Something Wicked
by The Lord Of The Words
Summary: Six months after Advent Children. The world is once again at peace. But still...a lingering feeling remains. Something isn't right, but it's hard to place. The mysterious phone calls are not helping either.
1. Forewarning

Something Wicked

**Chapter 1: **Forewarning

The world had once more settled, most welcomingly, into peace. The sinister forces that had arisen out of the depths of the planet had been fought, vanquished, and sent back to their origins. The three, Kadaj, Loz, and Yazoo had been defeated; their plans for the Reunion had been toppled. Sephiroth had emerged, but was once again conquered, his own designs of extinguishing the planets life-force to use for his own purposes, halted.

The virus Geostigma had vanished, the mysterious cure healing all those afflicted with it. Jenova itself, the Calamity from the Sky, disappeared, and no trace of it has yet been found. Finally, all was right in the world. The saviors of the planet, on two separate occasions mind you, went back to their lives, trying their best to be ordinary. Well, as ordinary as _they_ could anyways.

Cloud Strife stayed in Edge, maintaining his Strife Delivery Service, gaining a steady line of customers. A strange sort of job for a highly trained swordsman and hero, but whatever made him feel alright with himself. Naturally, Tifa Lockhart, his closest childhood friend and perhaps a bit more, was with him, helping him with his business, and managed her bar, 7th Heaven.

loud and Tifa still had many of the orphans living with them, several of those that had been previous victims of Geostigma. Often, Marlene was left in their care, while her father, Barret Wallace, was helping manage an oil field he had found several months ago. He hated being away from his daughter, but in order to keep Mako from being used, but without putting people in danger at the same time at a lack of power, he needed to do what must be done.

Cid Highwind, pilot and astronaut, was head of an avionics facility, responsible for designing and overseeing the construction of a number of flying mechanical airships, and even training the pilots to fly them personally. He still maintained and flew his own personal airship, ever since the Highwind was destroyed, the Shera, named after his head technician, and wife.

Red XIII or Nanaki, returned to his native home of Cosmos Canyon, to protect it, after his grandfather Bugenhagen bid him to protect the planet, and to watch over the Canyon. He honors his grandfather's last wish, ready to die for Cosmos Canyon, just as his father, the great warrior Seto, did.

Yuffie Kisaragi, the young, brash, and quirky ninja girl from the town of Wutai far to the east, also kept busy. After things settled down, she went back home to help try and restore its former glory, under the leadership of her father, Godo Kisaragi.

Cait Sith, aka. Reeve Tuesti, the former Shinra head of the Urban Development Department, had been working to establish his union, the WRO, the World Restoration Organization. Their purpose is to protect the planet, and to rebuild what was left.

Then, Vincent Valentine, the former Turk, and former bodyguard to Dr. Lucrecia Crescent, biological mother to Sephiroth. Vincent remains hidden most of the time, in isolation, his restless mind always thoughtful and filled with past regrets. He can now be easily reached, after procuring a cell phone in Edge.

And who could forget the former President of Shinra Inc., Rufus Shinra? With his still loyal Turks; Tseng, Reno, Rude, and Elena, cured of his Geostigma, not many know what he and they are up to. But no one really wants to know. Compared to the evils that had been faced, the Shinra were not quite so bad. But the time of crisis was over. The fighting had stopped at long last.

Business had been steady as of late. The hardworking citizens of Edge needed a drink every now and then, so Tifa was kept busy keeping her customers happy. She also acted as an answering service, talking calls when Cloud was out. Which he was at the moment. On the plus side though, he had been hanging around much more often lately, not being his previously aloof self.

Ever since he defeated Sephiroth, and was cured of his own Geostigma, he seemed much calmer of mind. His spirits were higher. He _smiled_ now. He actually smiled. _It's nice to see him smile once in a while_, Tifa told herself, a cheerful expression of her own creeping across her lips. It was getting late in the afternoon; the last few of her patrons were paying up, and heading out. The bar got quiet. Tifa was all by herself, a rarity these days.

Marlene was with her dad, Barret surprising everyone, busting in the door unannounced, hooting and hollering. Several customers got very frightened by the size of this man, and that went double because he had a big metal arm, which was rumored to be able to turn into a gun.

Cloud was out on a delivery, and several of the orphans were either out, participating in their typical childhood shenanigans, or upstairs, asleep. Still, after such a rush hour, a little peace and quiet was certainly not unwelcome. Alas, this was not to last, as from deep within the building, a phone began to ring. Cloud's business line, usually a client or on occasion a friend from the past, aiming to leaving their rowdy voices on the answering machine, just to get a rise out of Cloud.

Tifa was contemplating on whether or not to let the machine get it, but figured, since she wasn't doing anything, save tidying up the already well kept bar area, figured it would be more professional to answer the phone. Stepping out from behind the counter, she headed for the stairs, and climbed to the second level of the building, to Cloud's makeshift office/home. Tifa got to it just moments before the last ring began to fade out.

"Strife Delivery Service," she answered, in a businesslike manner, as she had done a hundred times before, "You name it, we deliver it. How can I help you?" From the other line, there was a man's voice, an average sounding fellow.

"Um…yes hi. I was wondering, can you people deliver…large objects? Are you equipped to do that?" While at the moment, no, they were not equipped to do something like that, normally the things they delivered were in package sized form, it wasn't impossible.

"No problem," she answered cheerfully, brushing some loose hairs from her eyes, "We can deliver anything, even if it's as big as a house!" Of course, if it _was_ something that large, they might have to give Cid a call, and see if he could help them out with a little aerial support. _If_ it was that big.

"Oh great, that's fantastic," came the obviously relieved voice from the other end, "Cause you see, I have this…"

And just like that, with a click, a short flare of static, his voice vanished. Replaced with silence.

"Hello?" Tifa called, trying to get a response, "Hello, are you still there?" But there was no reply. "Strange," she said aloud, "That he'd hang up right then." But she soon realized that he hadn't hung up. The phone, still up to her ear, was silent, no dial tone. He hadn't hung up, the line had gone dead. She gave the receiver a scrutinizing look, before replacing it. After giving it a few seconds, she picked it up again, and put it to her ear.

Nothing had changed; still complete silence. "The lines must be down," she concluded, "Someone was probably working on it, and they accidentally disconnect the landlines." She put up the phone, and started back down stairs. "Maybe I should call the company, just to make sure it's just a fluke." Back down in the bar, she rummaged around, and pulled her cell phone out. She flipped it open and began punching in the numbers, but her eyes caught sight of her phones display. She wasn't getting any signal.

"What?" she questioned. Even more, her cell phone wasn't getting any dial tone either. As quiet as the local phone. "What's going on?" There was no answer, but then she reasoned, "Maybe I'm just not getting a signal in here. I'll try outside."

What she was trying to push from her head was the fact that she had never before needed to go outside to get a descent signal. So, why did she need to now? Stepping out into the afternoon sun, Tifa squinted at her phone. Nothing. No change whatsoever. "Excuse me," came a voice. She looked around, and saw a man standing behind her.

"Hi, sorry to bother you, but could I use your phone? Mine went dead, and I can't seem to get a signal from my cell." Tifa shook her head, holding up her own currently useless cell.

"My regular phone is out too, and so is my cell. I was trying to get a reading out here, but so far, I can't get anything." The man scratched his head. "Huh…how about that? Do you think were getting interference from something?"

"I can't image what," she replied, "I've never seen this happen before." He nodded, before saying, "Looks like it's not just us either." Glancing up, Tifa saw that there were several other people in the streets now, each holding their cell phones up, trying to get reception.

"I guess the phone company is just playing a joke on us. Oh well, thanks anyways." And off the man walked, arm still raised, lifting his cell as close to the sky as he could. Tifa had no idea what to make of all this, but had a hunch that no amount of waving her phone around was going to get it to work. So, she gave up, going back inside. For about an hour, several people drifted in and out of the place, each of them asking to use her phone, to which she would reply, it wasn't working.

She was in the midst of listing a possible reason as to why this was, when her cell suddenly flared into life, beeping. She had been holding it firmly in a fist, and now that it unexpectedly sparked to life in her hand, made her drop it. It hit the floor, clattering, but kept ringing. She nabbed it, opened it, and put it up to her ear.

"Hello?" she called, half expecting it to be Cloud, asking her where she had been. The voice on the other end wasn't Cloud, but she nonetheless recognized it. Her expression altered ever so slightly.

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_Meanwhile…_

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As it was, Cloud _had_ been trying to reach Tifa. Trying for the better part of an hour. He had delivered his latest parcel to its destination, Kalm, and was already on his way back. About halfway, he called the bar, letting her know he was on the way. And also, he was thinking about asking Tifa to join him…for dinner.

_Not like it's a date_, he told himself firmly, although he wasn't really convincing himself. Imagine his surprise when his phone seemed to refuse to connect, getting nothing but silence. _The lines dead_, he thought, checking the signal display. Nothing. It wasn't getting any sort of reading.

_That doesn't normally happen. Something's wrong._ But he had no idea what. And being out in the middle of the wilderness, he wasn't in too much of a position to do anything about it. So, he kept driving, picking up the speed. Every now and then, he would pull his phone out again, and take a look. Still no reception. And it had nothing to do with him being out in the middle of nowhere. He made this trip all the time, to Kalm and back, and never had his phone been dead once. Something was definitely off.

With his high performance bike, and him coaxing even more speed out of it, traversing the wastelands at a velocity that was rather dangerous, it didn't take too long for him to get back. Instead of going straight into Edge, he pulled up to a familiar bluff, one that was overlooking the ruins of Midgar. At this site was a familiar monument.

A huge sword, several feet long, and with incredible thickness pressed tip first into the ground, the blade and handle tarnished with rust. From that place, he scanned both Midgar and Edge, searching for any signs of distress. But he could find none. All appeared as it should. No smoke rising from either place, no distant shrieks of terrified masses. Only the tranquil silence.

Cloud was even more perplexed, having thought that he would almost assuredly come back to a massacre. He knew he was being overcautious, as after being in the middle of so many catastrophes, and plots to eradicate all life, the concept and thoughts of actual peace were somewhat hard to accept. No matter how much he wanted to.

"I'm doing it again," he said aloud, casting a small smile to the sword. "Overreacting. You were always telling me to be calm. Guess I never listened." He walked back to his bike, kicking up the loose dust. Then…he stopped. He turned around, and instead of looking at the cities, he lifted his gaze up. Something wasn't right. He knew it. The cell phone thing had spooked him a bit, but he could overlook that.

But this…he had a feeling, a similar sort of one whenever he knew that something was amiss. He was usually right. There was…he didn't know what, but there _was_ something wrong. A sort of pressure on the mind, he struggling to figure it out, like a problem that has a solution, but so well hidden, it is seemingly unsolvable. In the midst of this, his phone rang. Having the nerves of steel, he didn't jump.

Instead, he pulled it out, and put it up to his ear. "Cloud," came the soft familiar voice of…

"Tifa, something weird happened to my phone…It blacked out and…" He was cut off by her.

"I know. The same thing happened here. Cloud…I got a call. From someone we know. You should be getting one too. And so should the others…"

"Who called you Tifa," Cloud pressed, at once on alert. Tifa sounded a bit apprehensive, and he knew it took at lot to do that, "Who talked to you?" There was no answer, and connection went dead. "Tifa?" Cloud called on to the open line, "Tifa?" But there was no response. He closed his phone. Almost immediately, it rang again. He flipped it open. "Hello?" The voice that spoke to him wasn't Tifa's. But he knew it all the same. And it meant trouble.

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_Elsewhere…_

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Somewhere else in Edge, there was a popular diner that served great food, but as the sign promised, saved ones hard earned Gil. It was currently rather empty, as sitting in one of the biggest booths, was a large dark skinned man. His right arm was a glimmering metallic, artificial, the metal fingers tapping on the tabletop.

Across from him, strangely enough, was a little girl, about eight years old, who seemed completely nonchalant about the brooding and somewhat grumpy attitude of the big guy. In fact, she was giggling about it, loving whenever he went a bit crazy, ranting and raving, waving his arms about, scaring the people around, over seemingly tiny things. Such as this.

When the waiter had brought their appetizing soups, one chicken and one tomato, the blood red broth was ice cold, and after a spoonful, the man began glancing around impatiently, just waiting for his waiter to return, before he would begin to yell at him. The waiter in question could see the angry glare, and hunkered down behind the counter, hoping that he wasn't going to get beaten up.

"Daddy," Marlene told her father, stifling some laughter; "It's gazpacho. It's _meant_ to be served cold." Barret glanced at his daughter, before snatching up a nearby menu, and scanned the text. True enough, under the Soup category, there was the word tomato, but it was indeed gazpacho. This didn't make Barret any happier.

"Well, why tha hell is it under soup then? Soup's meant to be warm, not cold as an ice cube! Probably messed up some other way too! When that waiter comes back, I'm gonna get him to take it back there, and heat it up! And if he spits in it…" This was too much, and Marlene began to laugh, squirming in her seat, watching her father throwing one of his tantrums. It was really quite funny. After all, _she_ was the child, and such behavior was for her to do. Not her father.

In the meanwhile, the two talked, Barret pressing his daughter about Cloud, Tifa, Cloud's business, and if Cloud had gotten up the nerve to ask out Tifa. Marlene was Barret's hidden eyes and ears. He hardly ever actually said Cloud's name…but then, he never had anyway. He would always call him such identifying names as Spiky, Spike, Spike-head, Mr. SOLDIER, among others.

At last, Barret couldn't hold it any longer, and jumped out of his seat.

"Goddamnit," forgetting that he wasn't suppose to swear with his daughter so nearby, "Where the hell is the…" His thundering voice, which shook the diner in its entirety, was cut off by the ringing of his phone. He glanced down, the little silver cell both ringing and wiggling.

"Of all the times," he grumbled, fumbling with it, and getting it open. "Yeah, what?" A moment of silence. "What the hell do _you_ want? I'm out trying to enjoy a nice lunch with my…" Silence again, the only sound audible was the slight murmur of a voice on the other line. "That's so? I guess Spiky will be there? Alright…but you'd better hope that this is for real!" He slapped it shut.

"Shit," he grumbled, now remembering to keep his voice down.

"Who was it dad?" Marlene asked him, knowing already that something important had arisen. Whenever Barret was with her, it would only take the biggest of emergencies to tear him away.

"Aw, just some guy I know. He wants to see me. Spiky-ass and Tifa will be there. Come on, I'll get this to go." The two of them rose, Barret tossing a few gil on the table, and they walked out, he holding the door open for her, and casting one last boiling stare back at the cowering staff.

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_Far away…_

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Across the ocean, in a vast warehouse, there were huge pieces of machinery clanking and whirling, a mechanics kitchen someone might call it. Just outside this gargantuan factory, there were several contraptions with wings and engines, all chuffing and grinding, purring and tooting. A whole fleet of them. Their spotless metal bodies were currently being buffed by numerous men in dark blue coveralls, while others were hanging by cords, to tinker and play around inside several open hatches.

In the sky above, there were a couple of other ships, in full operation circling around, their movements a bit on the shaky side, a tad jerky, the banking as well as the raising and lowering of altitude was a bit rushed. An obvious sign of someone who wasn't completely trained on how to handle such a delicate piece of machinery was behind the wheel.

This was the former Shinra Inc. Weapons Factory, under the direction of Scarlet, the former head of Weapons Developments. Now, without the need for weapons, it technological secrets and the whole premises were now being put to constructive uses. Under the leadership of the man in charge. Who everyone around called, "Captain".

On the roof of this factory, the executive office, was where this "Captain" sat. The office itself had been duly modified for personal preferences. There was no expensive furniture, only simple rustic pieces, a wooden desk, nothing too fancy, some chairs, and footstool. No pictures of weapons on the walls, as a matter of fact, there were hardly any walls; most of the office was open, with retractable windows and roof.

For the walls that were there, there were pictures of airships, of a group of familiar and friendly faces, and a dartboard. Strewn about the desktop were not designs for even more powerful weapons, but schematics for new ship plans, applications for pilots and mechanics, and logs on the daily maintenance of all aircraft.

And leaning back in a simple wooden chair, feet planted firmly on these piles of important papers, hands behind his head, gazing out into the sky and horizon, was the Captain. There was one other person in the room too, a woman in a technician's coat, and glasses, sitting in an adjacent chair, going over some things.

"This one looks promising," she commented, giving the daydreaming man a curious eye. "Quale Roderick. He has a pretty impressive flight record with the Trident and the Hawk. And…he's always wanted to be taught by you. As a matter of fact, nearly every pilot out there wants to be trained by the famous Cid Highwind. Why not cut him a break?" Cid leaned even farther back, a cigarette cartwheeling through his fingers.

"Damn, you should know that _all_ those dopes want ta fly under me. But ya need to learn ta pick 'em better. What did ya say? Roderick? Are you crazy? He's a nice kid, but shit, he's a knucklehead who doesn't know his ass from his elbows. And you want him in _my_ ship? He's liable ta crash it into a goddamn mountain the moment I take my eyes off him!" Shera only smiled and shook her head.

"Maybe we should do this later. I know from that look that you have something on your mind." She was right, though Cid wasn't usually one to share his feelings. Usually.

"You're right. I do. Take a look for yerself." He pivoted around, and gestured out the window. "That sky out there. I've been looking up at it my whole life; I know it like I know myself. And there something about it. It don't feel right. Something's changed about it. The wind feels funny, like there's something wrong with it."

"Maybe you've been staring at it too long…" Shera suggest, but Cid brushed that off.

"The hell I have…Mark my words, there's something different…" his thoughtful tone was interrupted by a buzzing, of his intercom. With a grunt, he sat up, and hit the button. "What do ya want, we're busy up here!" There was some static, but then a voice.

"Captain, you have a call, someone who want's to talk with you." Cid waved a dismissing hand, forgetting his intercom couldn't see.

"Take a message, I don't feel like talkin' with any idiots." A few moments later…

"Captain, he's says it's important, and that he's an "old friend", and its imperative he talks with you." Knowing the old friend could very well be one of Cid's own friends, defeated, he snatched up his phone, growling, "Stubborn sons of a bitch," before gruffly barking into the phone.

"This had better be damn good." After a moment, he grumbled, "Oh, it's _you_. What do ya want?" There was maybe thirty seconds of dialogue from whoever it was, before Cid spoke again. "And you need me for that? Uh huh…Well, how can I refuse? Alright whatever." As Shera watched, she saw Cid's face change. When he hung up, he glanced at her.

"Prep the ship, send out a crew, and tell Roderick to saddle up. We got some people to pick up."

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_Elsewhere…_

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Somewhere, not too far away, where the sky was orange, and the air was clear, was a place carved right out of the red cliffs. A small village had been established here long ago, huts and caves acting as shelter. Perhaps the most noticeable feature was the large observatory on the highest peak, a house with a grand view of all around. Cosmos Canyon. And sitting up on the roof of the observatory, was a bizarre creature.

A red animal, a dog by the looks, with a fiery scarlet mane, and a tail that glowed with fire. Across the highly pronounced canine face was a scar, running over the right eye, and feathers were adorned in the hair around his neck. Though he was sitting, one could still clearly see a large number "XIII" tattooed on his left hind leg. He was lying down, gazing out at the setting sun, in the midst of deep and contemplative thoughts.

After the fiasco involving Jenova and Sephiroth, his current duty of protecting the planet fulfilled, Red XIII had gone back to Cosmos Canyon. He spent the majority of the days traveling outside, along the canyons, keeping things safe for the others. As evening rolled around, he climbed back up to the observatory, to survey things on high. It gave him alone time to think.

This evening was turning out like any other, at least until Red XIII's extra-sensitive ears perked, hearing an approaching motor. And, it wasn't from a car or bike either. But that of a ship that flies. There was no need to speculate further, so he merely waited. So, it was no surprise when a magnificent and yet ever familiar airship came roaring up, mooring lines attaching to the railings around the observatory. Red rose, and made his way over, just as Cid was hopping off.

"Long time no see, Red," he greeted loudly, adjusting his goggles.

"Indeed it has," Red answered, sitting down on his haunches, "Been taking care of yourself?" Cid chuckled, throwing his head back at his ship.

"Sure have! Sorry ta drop in unannounced, but I got a call from an old acquaintance of ours. Wants ta see us…all of us." Red stole glance down at Canyon below.

"I see. To what end?"

"Bastard wouldn't say. Just wants us there. I'm headin' to Wutai next. I guess everyone else already has transportation arrangements. Supposed ta meet in Edge. Who knows what shit this is about. Can't be good though, I can tell ya that." Red followed Cid, and boarded the ship.

"As a matter of fact," Red confessed, "I've been expecting this somewhat. I don't know what it is, but something has made me feel uneasy as of late. A sense of anxiety, even among the creatures that roam the lands. Perhaps we will find out." With the lines detached, the Shera rose back up into the clouds, circled around, and went flying off on a westerly course.

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_Meanwhile…_

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Far to the west, on a mountainous continent, was yet another settlement. A place of different design of that of Edge and Cosmos Canyon. Magnificently colored buildings, ornamented with olden symbols. The technique of architecture was oriental and stylish, a small river running through the center. This town sat at the base of a grand set of mountains, with carvings etched right into the very rocks themselves. The mighty Da-Chao Mountains. The kingdom of Wutai.

Years past, Wutai tried to stand against Shinra, but were defeated after a long war. Since then, it had ceased to shine with its ancient spirit, and had become nothing more than a place for tourists and an overall laughing stock.

However, over the recent years, it has been striving to rekindled it's celebrated past, rising like the phoenix, from ashes to its former glory. This is thanks greatly due to the Hero of Wutai, aiding in saving the world, the great ninja, as she calls herself, Yuffie Kisaragi. She aids her father to bring Wutai back to what it once was.

The day was drawing to a close, and Godo Kisaragi was standing out behind his home, eyes closed, letting the wind wash over him, the serine atmosphere calming him. Yuffie is outside too, trying to mimic her old mans meditation, but with little success. She never quite got the hang of sitting still.

"Something is amiss, my daughter," Godo said, the first thing he had spoken in over an hour, "The world is not as it should be. Not quite back to the peace as it had been." Not sensing anything overly strange, Yuffie, as perhaps most people would be, was skeptical.

"What are you babbling about? Everything looks great. Look, I know it's hard and everything to accept that it's over, but it's _really_ over." Godo did not share his daughter's optimism.

"I doubt that. The trees speak; they know more than they tell. One must know how to listen. And I hear a grim warning from them."

"Whatever." They once more lapsed into silent meditation, but this did not last long. For only a few minutes later, there was a roar, and a blast of hot air, as a silver ship began touching down nearby. Many inhabitance of the town dashed to the landing site, to witness the flying ship, wondering what purpose it served. Yuffie was right there, ahead of everyone. Cid leaned off the banister, waving his arms.

"Hey kid, it's been a while!" Yuffie gave the grizzled pilot a grin of her own, and acknowledged him with some wild waving of her own.

"Nice entrance you've made. What are you doing here Cid? Trying to modernize my home?"

"It's only a matter of time 'fore I do, but no. I got a call from someone, a name I think you'd recognize. He wants to see us. I got Red in here already, and everyone else is gonna meet in Edge. Don't know why, but it sure as shit ain't ta reminisce. You in?" Yuffie needed no further encouragement than that, and after making a grandiose performance to the people, explaining how she was off to save the day again, she hopped aboard the ship.

"Man, I hate these things. In less then five minutes, I know I'm going to be hurling all over the place."

"Just don't get it on my upholstery," Cid called, cackling like a wild man.

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_Elsewhere…_

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Close to Edge, a little outside of it, there was a large, high tech building, with state of the art security measures, a garage of mobile ground vehicles, and even several helicopters. A brand spanking new structure, sparkling clean, and being put to good use. All around this compound were soldiers, young men and women, wearing their kaki uniforms, with red caps, wielding their standard issue weaponry. A couple were manning computer terminals here and there, others installing security systems.

The front of the building read, "The WRO Headquarters." WRO of course meaning, The World Restoration Organization. The head of which was Reeve Tuesti. Currently, he was in the central control room, trying to solve a particularly interesting conundrum.

"So, nearly all of communications have shut down," he asked a technician, "No transitions going either in or out?" The soldier nodded.

"Yes sir, roughly fifty-eight minutes ago, all phone lines, radio waves, even television waves were lost. It's as if they just upped and vanished. Not even any outside means of message transmitting was available. It didn't affect any computer system in here, or in Edge, but communications are a no go."

"The question is," a thoughtful Reeve was inquiring to himself, "What could possibly do something like that? A high wave jammer? I've never heard of such a thing…But then again, I'm sure there were a number of things that Shinra developed without my knowing. Who knows, maybe someone got their hands on something…" His speculation was cut off by a squawking from the computers, and after a moment of study, a technician called,

"Sir, the communications have come back online!" Reeve, pleased, but puzzled stepped over, reviewing the readout himself.

"What did you do?" he questioned, to which the somewhat startled operator answered with, "Nothing. I was only running a diagnostic on the possible causes of interference, when all systems just came back. Whatever caused it must have stopped. Or something…" Reeve scratched his chin, perplexed over this.

"Odd," he commented with a mummer. "Keep me informed, and I still want you to try and find out what caused it in the first place."

"Mr. Tuesti," came a voice of a speaker, "You have a call on line three."

"A call? But the system just came back online!" There was a pause. Then… "Yes sir, and when it happened, we got the call. Someone wishes to speak with you; they say it's quite urgent."

"Alright, I'll take it up here. Transfer it to the closest terminal." After a few moments, a light from another station began to blink, and Reeve took up the phone. "This is Reeve Tuesti. Who may I ask is calling?" After a moment, a faint smile came across his face. "A voice I haven't heard in a long time. How have you been? Uh huh…I see. What's this about?" Some more chatter, before he sighed.

"Alright, but I certainly hope this is important. I'm pretty busy over here. Okay, I'll see you soon." He hung up, and was quiet. He then waved at a subordinate, summoning him to his side. "Send word to Captain Artlet that I'll need him to cover operations from here. I have some business that I need to see to, so I'll be out. I'll brief him before I go." The soldier saluted, and bolted out, leaving Reeve thinking about his furry little friend, Cait Sith. "Looks like we're not done just yet."

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_Far off…_

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Far off from Edge, or any other city for that matter, was a place that was exuberant, yet dim. Deep in the wilderness, hidden in isolation, was a dark forest. The trees were far from ordinary, crystal white, thin and fragile, an inhuman alien appearance, but there was still an enchanting feel in the air. Dotting he floor of this bizarre forest, here and there were small ponds, each filled with mesmerizing water, as one would hardly recognize their own reflection looking back. And sitting at the bank of one such pond was a dark and forlorn looking man.

He wore black clothing, almost like a suit, but not quite so fancy. Draped over his shoulders was a tattered scarlet cape, with a high collar, covering this mans neck and mouth. He wore a red headband, to keep his erratic but flowing hair out of his face, though a strand or two did manage to make it past. At his waist, was a dark leather gun holster, housing a pistol, a unique type with three barrels. On his left hand, there was a dull golden metallic claw, as well as boots made up of the same material. From under the dark black hair, were two brooding crimson eyes, staring out at the water, then, rising up, to see the starry sky above.

"Something sinister is in the wind," Vincent murmured, to himself, as no one was around. "Even now, its malevolence is growing." He trailed off, and remained silent. It was quite some time later, when there was a quiet beeping, and he leisurely pulled out his cell phone. He flipped it open, and put it to his ear, not even bothering to say hello. At once, a voice began talking to him, things he had expected.

"When and where?" he asked the mysterious caller. After a little more talk, he closed his eyes. "I'll be there." And with that, he put his phone back up. He continued to stare out at the water. "Seems there is still something to do…" He rose, and started off, exiting the woods, trying to leave behind his terrible memories, and regrets.


	2. Reunion: But Not That Kind

**Chapter 2:** Reunion…But Not That Kind

Evening had fallen, and now the lights that covered Edge, illuminating it in the darkness, flared to life. The overhead sky was dim, the usual dark clouds having dissipated, letting in trace amount of both moon and starlight. The majority of the citizens, not really liking to hang around the streets at sun down, had retreated to their respective homes, and were now nestled away.

Of course, there was _some_ activity, drunks, loiterers, and people that just like to wander around aimlessly. Otherwise, Edge was fairly silent, descending into yet another quiet sleepy night. Though some were not quite so sleepy. Namely three. Cloud, Tifa, and Barret. They were standing in the largest plaza of Edge; where not but six months ago they had encountered and fought Bahamut Sin. The statue that the creature had blown to smithereens had since been rebuilt, as had the surrounding buildings.

The three of them were hanging around right by it, waiting at the appropriate contact point that the mysterious caller had given them. So far, no one had shown up; the one who had contacted them, or the rest of their…crew. But then…it was still early.

The moment Cloud got back to Edge, he went straight to 7th Heaven, to talk with Tifa. Barret was already there, ranting and raving, striding about, yelling about the "son of a bitch" that broke up his father/daughter time. Tifa was trying her best to console the huge angry man by reasonably telling him that the caller wouldn't have contacted him, or any of them for that matter, if it hadn't been important.

But Barret wasn't hearing any of it. In both senses of it; that he wasn't accepting it, but with his booming voice, he literally _couldn't_ hear it. Cloud walked in around the point Barret was shouting, "I don't care if the whole damn planet is coming to an end!"

"Funny," he interrupted, leaning against the doorframe, his voice getting both of them to look his way, "Two years ago you would have done anything just so Marlene had a future." Instead of offering a friendly greeting, Barret's face seemed to get red. Though it was kind of hard to tell.

"Well…yeah! But that was back when a truckload of shit was going down, and there was a huge goddamn ball of fire, gonna wipe out everyone! Not some ta mention some maniac trying to kill everything! Couldn't just sit on ma ass and do nuthin'! Now though, what the hell could be so damn important? We've takin' care of those crazy ass remnant guys, and beat Sephiroth? So, what the do they want now? Ain't we done enough?"

"I guess not," Cloud answered. "So, were you two told to go to the same place?" Tifa and Barret exchanged looks, and nodded.

"The center of Edge," Tifa confirmed, "Right by the monument. At around eleven tonight." Cloud glanced at a clock hanging behind the bar.

"That means we got two hours." Despite this lengthy amount of time between their deadline, no one could think of a worthwhile way to spend it, so they just upped and went. Actually, Cloud was toying with the idea of asking Tifa if he and her could just…talk, but hadn't gotten up the nerve.

_I can fight monsters, defeat Sephiroth, and save the world, _he told himself, partly with disgust, _but I can't even talk with Tifa, who've I've known since we were kids? Some hero…_ They had arrived at the monument, and it was already deserted. The people of Edge didn't have much in the ways of a night life, which was probably best. Who knows what comes out after dark?

Sitting there for two hours, just waiting, was nothing special for Cloud; he had spent two years waiting, what was two measly hours? Tifa too, was alright, though she looked bored, pacing some of the time, and just strolling around or sitting still, resting her face in her hands.

Sitting still was _not_ something that Barret could do however. He was lumbering back and forth, grumbling and complaining, as he always had a tendency to do, and every once in a while, he'd whap his metal arm on the statue, sending a dull echoing resonance throughout the plaza.

"Calm down," Cloud instructed, though he wasn't betting that the angry man would listen, "That's not making time go any faster."  
"I know that, goddamnit, but I hate just sittin' here, when there are a hundred things I'd rather be doin' right now! Being with Marlene comes ta mind! I just don't see the point in bein' here! Sephiroth is long gone, and the planet's safe again! What's the deal?"

"We'll find out Barret," Tifa assured him, trying to keep the peace, "This has to be important, they wouldn't call us for just some little thing. Whatever it is, I'm _sure_ it's serious. We just have to be patient." Again, this did not satisfy him.

"Yeah, serious my ass! They probably just want ta use us as hired muscle, they tried doin' that before! Use us to do their dirty work! Well I ain't stoopin' that low! And if they try tellin' us that this whole business with Sephiroth ain't over, I ain't swallowin' that!"

"But it isn't over," broke in a voice. One that came from over their heads. All eyes turned upward, squinting into the darkness. There, silhouetted against the night sky, standing on the topmost pinnacle of the monument, was a dim shadow, draped in a tattered red cloak. Two shimmering crimson eyes shone out of the gloom, staring off into nothing, not focused on the three standing on the ground, but rather the open sky above.

There was no need to ask, they all knew who it was, and all recognized the newcomer, by both the voice, as well as the mysterious way that it talked. Without a sound, Vincent stepped off his perch, and gently floated to the ground, a good forty foot drop, and landed oh so silently, next to them, there being only the quietest of metallic ringing, from his boots.

"Something like that is never truly over. Like the Lifestream, it merely repeats itself. One only gets a temporary reprieve." This was some dark talk, but seeing as how it was Vincent…no one minded. He himself had told Cloud, when he had been already somewhat labeled as being both cold and distant, "That's just the way I am."

"Good to see you," Tifa greeted warmly, looking him over, "Where have _you_ been hiding out?" Vincent gave the barest of shrugs. "Around," he muttered, his typical cryptic sort of answer.

"Vincent," Cloud asked, "Do you know what this might be about? Was there something we forgot to do? Or do you think that this something else?" Vincent looked at Cloud, with that calm almost dead expression. "It's just…I've had this feeling. Something…well isn't right, I already knew that but…this doesn't feel the same way as when…when I fought…" He trailed off, but his point was made nonetheless.

"I know, I've had the same sort of feeling," Vincent answered, closing his eyes. "Something in the air, something ominous. But ultimately different. I have a suspicion that this has nothing to do with Sephiroth."

"But if not Sephiroth…" Tifa asked, "Then who? Or what?" Vincent shook his head. "That…I don't know."

"Aw the hell with this," Barret interrupted, "What the hell yall gettin' so worked up for? Talkin' 'bout evil wind an' shit! Yall are just speculating 'bout nuthin' that probably doesn't even exist! We'll see what that bozo wants, then when it turns out ta be nuthin, we tell him ta cram it up his ass!"

"He may be right," Vincent agreed, though his voice nor expression seemed any different. "Perhaps we _are_ all being a bit paranoid. This may turn out to be a different threat, but one that had nothing to do with something sinister."

"Evil," Barret scoffed, almost laughing, but not quite, "I say its nuthin' an' we all gettin' jerked around."

"Perhaps, but I think they would know better than to get into contact with us, unless it was a serious matter."

"Pssh, I doubt that. Probably wanted us there ta sing happy birthday to the asshole! And you one to talk, _you_ just got a phone! I'll bet that you were waiting to get a call, and when ya did, you got so excited, that you rushed out here, just to tell all us 'bout it!" Vincent merely stared at Barret, his silence speaking for him, at the rather ludicrous idea. Cloud intervened.

"Well, all this speculating is just getting us worked up. None of us may even be right. I say, until we know what this is about, we don't hazard any more guesses. Alright?" No one answered, but they nodded, and silence fell across the plaza yet again. And a short lived silence at that. For over their heads, there came the incoming thunder of engines and rotor blades. It grew steadily louder, and before long, a dark shape high above soon covered them all.

With a brilliant flash, several searchlights mounted on the hull of the airship kicked on, washing the whole plaza in dazzling white light. With its descent, columns of air were blown down on top of the four, hair, clothes, and cloaks blowing wildly. It reached the ground, and hovered, the engines slowing down, the roar of its motors growing quieter, however, there was still the constant rumbling as it idled.

Cloud, Tifa, Barret, and Vincent approached the lower deck, just as rope ladder was tossed over the side.

"Hey down there," came a familiar cry, from an energetic friend, "Seems like we didn't miss that party after all! Look out below!" And down came Cid, descending the ladder, sliding down more than climbing, landing in front of them, cigarette in his teeth, which were displayed in a big grin.

"Well, good to see yall found other means of conveyance. How've all you suckers been?" Cloud stepped up giving the pilot a shake of hands, Tifa gave him a welcoming hug, Barret knocked fists with him, and Vincent gave a small courteous nod. "We've been fine," Cloud answered. "So, you got word too?"

"Yup, son of a bitch calls, and not only wants ta see me, but asks if I can act as taxi cab! Shit, ya think he could have at least said please! An' sorry I'm late, but I had to pick up a few strays." He jerked his thumb back up to his ship.

Almost as if on cue, there was a roar, and Red XIII came diving off the side of the deck, landing with a thud next to everyone. Right behind him, with a high pitched ninja battle cry, or something else entirely, somersaulting off the railing came Yuffie, flipping through the air, no doubt with practiced fanfare, coming to a stop right beside Red.

"Hiya! Guess you all made it after all! Alright!" She went around, hopping and laughing, all excited and joyful. "Damn," Barret was grumbling, but with the barest of smile on his face, "Thought I was done with this crazy crowd. Just can't seem ta get rid of 'em"

"Nice to see you too Barret," Yuffie told him, latching on to his arm, "I know you're just _thrilled_ ta be here."

"As thrilled as a heart attack." Cloud stepped over next to Red XIII.

"How have you been? And how's Cosmos Canyon doing?" Red glanced up, giving a strange sort of fanged grin.

"It's fine, everyone living safely in peace. Myself, I've been thinking quite a bit these days. Smelling something in the air, something that doesn't feel right. And when I heard about this, us being called and asked to meet, its only sparked up my curiosity, and concern even more."

"Yeah," Barret yelled, breaking in, having been listening, "We's just got finished talkin' 'bout that! I'm a bit curious too, what this bullshit's about! But we sure as hell ain't findin' that out just standin' here! Like ta get this over with first chance we get! So, we all here? Just waiting for someone ta come along and pick us up?"

"Not quite everyone," Tifa pointed out, "One's still missing. I hope he makes it." Vincent, without even turning around spoke.

"Here he comes now." Lo and behold, from around the corner, a ways down the street, came a transport truck, heading right for the plaza. Everyone was thinking about asking how in the world Vincent had heard that vehicle approach, what with the still noisy airship literally right overhead, but no one did. Vincent just did those sorts of things, and they were better left unexplained. The truck pulled up, hissing steam as it came to a stop in front of everyone. One of the doors on the back cargo area opened, and out stepped _two_ people, not just one. Well, actually, one person, and one cat.

Reeve and Cait Sith. Both lifted their hands in way of greetings. "Hello," Reeve called, to which Cait Sith emphasized, "Aye, it bein' grand ta see ye again!"

"Ah there he is," Cid exclaimed, waving a hand, "Get on over here, we're havin' a ball just waitin' around!" Reeve nodded, and walked around to the driver's window. "You sure you want us to leave you here Mr. Tuesti?" one of the soldiers asked, glancing at the strange gathering of bizarre looking people.

"Absolutely. I've known them for quite some time. Just head back to HQ and log this in the computer." The two men in the cab saluted him, and drove off.

"Part of your organization," Cloud asked him, watching the truck going back the way it had come.

"Yes, but we're not quite the organization yet. Still have a ways to go. But we'll be on our feet in no time." With that, he turned to everyone. "Well, seems everyone has made it. I must admit, I was a little surprised when I got call. Must be about something imperative. Maybe about the lapse in communications earlier today…?"

"Lapse in communications?" Tifa echoed, "You mean how all the phones in Edge shut down several hours ago?" Reeve nodded. "Right, though it wasn't just in Edge. From what we could tell, nearly every device capable of message transmitting on this continent was being jammed or cut off, and if we are right, even more than that too. Who knows, maybe everywhere in the world was affected. But even now we aren't able to find the source. Something we must have missed…"

"Shoot," Cid whistled, "Somethin' that knocked out all phones across the world? That got ta be some damn big jammer."

"Wish I could tell you it was all the way in Wutai," Yuffie almost apologized, "But we don't have too many phones over there, and we've never really needed them." Cid flashed a grin, slapping his leg. "That's why I need ta come over one of these days, and modernize the place! Bring it up ta speed with the rest of the world!"

"Not in a million years," Yuffie firmly said. But she was smiling, and whirled towards Cloud, whom she hadn't said hi to yet.

"And how have you been Cloud?" she pressed, "Have you gone out with Tifa yet?" This question caught Cloud right off guard, and he could only struggle for an answer, uttering little sounds, casting bewildered and extremely embarrassed glances at Tifa, before looking away again, just as quickly. Tifa was smiling, a hint of red reaching her cheeks. Everyone else, letting the possibility of another crisis of some kind slip away, all began laughing, Cid even throwing in a few well placed whistles.

"Yeah Cloud," came a voice, "I've also been wondering…have you two gone steady yet?" There behind them, stepping out of an alleyway came someone familiar.

_Two_ someone's actually, their identities no secret, the ones who had made the series of phone calls to the group. Both were wearing snappy blue suits, white shirts beneath, though one was clearly dressing more cleanly cut than the other. The man with the wild orange hair had his jacket unbuttoned, and no tie, a slapdash look to go with his slapdash personality, his hands stuffed into his pockets, and a pair of goggles resting up in his hair.

The other was obviously a man of absolute professionalism. His suit was buttoned, the collar turned down, and sporting a black tie. His darker skin, bald head, and stylish sunglasses just made him all the tougher looking. Their black shoes clacking on the cement, as they came almost swaggering out. Everyone turned to face them, looks of mixed emotions, probably somewhere along the lines of misgiving yet acceptance.

"Hey," Reno greeted, in that laid back and smart-ass type way, "Long time no see!" Rude…merely grunted.


	3. Off to See the President

**Chapter 3:** Off to See the President

"Sorry we're late, but it's such a pain in the ass to get around this place in the middle of the night. And we figured we'd give you enough time for all of ya to get here. Going across the world can be quite the trip." Reno was grinning, in his typical manner, seemingly oblivious to the looks he was getting. Not hostile, but not looked upon with great warmth. At last, with the sound of Rude clearing his throat, he noticed.

"What? Nothing for us? You were all buddy-buddy with each other a few seconds ago, but when we show up, suddenly it's blowing a cold wind around here. Sheesh. What's a guy gotta do?"

"For one thing," Barret answered, scowling all the while, his voice escalating in volume, "Ya can tell us what the hell we're all doin' out here _in the middle of the goddamn night!"_

"Whoa whoa," Reno lifted his hands, trying to get Barret to chill out, "Not so loud, there are people trying sleep around here." Rude stepped up, one hand straying to his tie, pulling at it, and straightening it. "We were sent here to direct you to the meeting. We'll take you, just as soon as you are ready."

"We're already ready," Cid bawled, looking nearly as pissed as Barret, "I got other things I still need ta do today, so quit yer lollygaggin' and show us where ya boss is, so we can hear what this is about!"

"Very well," Rude answered, the outburst having seemingly no effect on his disposition, "Let's go. Reno?" At the mere mention of his name, Reno stepped up again, his grin once more appearing. Despite the somewhat temperamental mood around him, he just couldn't keep his sarcastically cheerful expression off his mouth.

"Alright, boys and girls, follow the leader…" And the two Turks turned, and walked directly to the hanging ladder off of the airship. "Well…come on," he called back, as they started to climb, "I thought you were all in such a rush, but you're just standing there."

"Where the hell do you think yer goin'?" Cid exploded, waving his fists at the two ascending into _his_ ship.

"Well hey," Reno answered back, balancing precariously on the railing, "When I called and asked if you could pick up a few people, you sounded okay with it. Now you know that it includes us. Besides, I don't know any faster way to get there."

"What is this shit?!" Cid looked only seconds away from tearing up the ladder himself, and personally ejecting the smart ass and the mute out of his ship. Before he could, Cloud stepped up, most likely the one on the best sort of terms with the duo.

"Let me talk to them, see I can't get some straight answers." Cid growled, glaring up, his hands clenched into fists. With a nimble leap, Cloud bypassed the ladder, and landed right up next to Rude, who was standing rather nonchalantly. Reno was still on the railing, leaning back against a support column. "What's this _really_ about?" Cloud asked them, straight and to the point, as was his style.

"Wish I could tell ya," Reno apologized half-heartedly, "We don't really know. All I _do_ know is that the boss sounded pretty antsy, and wanted to see you all."

"By boss, do you mean Tseng…or Rufus?"

"Mr. Shinra," Rude replied.

"So, you're telling me that you don't know what Rufus wants to see us for?"

"That's right," Rude answered, "And while we had you all gather here, as it is the most convenient rendezvous point, our base of operations is out of the range of walking. So, unless you happen to have a bus lying around…" He trailed off, leaving the floor open to his partner.

"Yeah, and while we'd love to fly you ourselves, we don't have a chopper handy right at the moment. So, we need to hitch a ride from your pal down there. I guess he's pissed 'cause I didn't give him the fine print over the phone, that in addition to you guys, he'd have to take us with him. You'd think he'd be more understanding…"

"Don't worry; I'll take care of it." Cloud stepped to the railing, and waved his hands. "Come on," he called down, "Let's go." Everyone exchanged looks, and started either climbing or leaping up, to join Cloud and the Turks.

"Alright," Cid grumbled, "But in the future, I'd appreciate gettin' the notice of who I'm gonna be haulin' around. Else I'll end up flyin' with a giant Shinra dinner party, or some damn thing, and wouldn't that be cute? And you'd best remember, that while ya'll are on my ship, you'd best behave yerselves, lest I toss you over the side. Now, which way am I headed?"

"Junon," Rude answered, before falling silent again, heading inside, seemingly oblivious to Cid's threat.

"You'll have to excuse him," Reno told them with a grin, "Not really the big talker."

"Unlike you," Cid muttered, following Rude inside, and began bawling through the corridor at the pilot to set the new course. Reno's eyes watched him as he passed.

"I get the feeling that he doesn't like me very much..."

"Can you really blame him?" Yuffie inquired, "A couple of years ago, you guys were nothing but pains in our ass, getting in our way while we were trying to save everyone. I'd probably be a little more pissed, if you hadn't saved me." Reno gave her a grin, his eyes starting at her feet, and leisurely working their way up.

"You're welcome for that by the way, though I wasn't just saving you. But if you ever want to thank me for the rescue, you know where to find me."

"Please," Yuffie snorted, before brushing past him, "You can keep that little fantasy to yourself."

Reno snickered at that, and called, "Whatever you say!" Then he turned back to everyone. "Yeah, she wants me." Everyone else on the deck, save Barret, who was still glowering, gave a grin.

"Hah hah," Reeve laughed, clapping Reno on the arm. "Still haven't changed I see. How's the president doing these days?"

"Ah, he's cool. A little spooked about something, but he hasn't said a word to me."

"Doesn't really sound like him. Though I think it will be interesting to see him, and the rest of the Turks again."

"Oh yeah, it'll be a blast to see everyone face to face again. A real warm get-together." Reeve gave another chuckle, as he was heading inside. "Like I said, you haven't changed at all."

"Of course not, I _never_ change."

"Hmm," Barret humphed, as he past him, "Too bad. Ya should try ta be more like ya partner, and keep ya trap shut more!" He entered the ship, Red XIII right behind, not having any comment to make at that moment. Reno watched them go by too. "Guess I'm not a big fan around here. Hey, where'd the vampire go?"

Somewhere along the line, without anyone's knowledge, Vincent too had exited the scene, most likely to find a quiet secluded corner of the ship, to brood upon the kind of things that Vincent usually brooded upon. That just left Reno, Cloud, and Tifa.

"Man Cloud, you guys are just bursting with love huh? Speaking of which, I'll think I'll be going inside now." He gave that coy Turk smile, before casually strolling off deck. Cloud at once was quite aware of him being all by his lonesome on the deck with Tifa. At once, he felt fidgety on the inside, and nervous on the outside, rather self-conscious about all of this.

_Why am I freaking out about this_, he asked himself, _it's not as if I've never been alone with Tifa before. So why am I feeling anxious now?_ He really knew the answer. Ever since everything had been resolved, since Cloud had made his peace, and finally finished his dilly-dallying, he seemed to think of Tifa in a whole new light.

"So," came her voice, effectively snapping Cloud back to the here and now, "Reno and Rude don't know anything either. Do you think this is something that only Rufus is aware of?" Cloud shrugged, trying to suppress his nervousness.

"Probably, though he's not the kind of guy to keep things to himself. He likes to advertise exactly what he's doing, and what's on his mind. I still think something doesn't feel right, but I guess all we can do right now is wait." Tifa shrugged, and gave that sweet smile of hers, the kind that could make a man's legs melt.

Cloud himself, despite being rather unemotional about…well about anything at all; even he felt a little something.

"So," she inquired lightly, "What now?" This left a lot of possible answers open, but before Cloud could make use of the time, a speaker nearby squealed to life.

"Alright everyone," Cid bellowed, getting everyone in the ship's attention, "We've fixin' ta take off, so kindly grab a seat, and hang on to ya hats! We're movin' out!"

Whereupon, the airship began to shudder, the dormant engines kicking to life once again, building up power, as the ship gradually began to rise. After gaining a decent altitude, the airship hovered, the insides running at full capacity, before taking off, heading in a southwest direction, straight for Junon.

"We'd probably should get inside," Cloud told Tifa, as the wind on the deck was picking up rapidly. Suddenly, the speaker flared to life again.

"An' Cloud, get yer sorry hide up here pronto! Need ta talk to ya! Move it!" The two traded glances. "Come on," he motioned. They fought against the increasing wind, and got inside. At once, they passed upon Vincent, who was hanging near the rear of the ship. He nodded at their passing, but didn't say anything.

Further on, was a well known and completely expected sight. Yuffie was leaning against the walls, cradling her arms, her face having a slightly green tint to it, once more a victim of her air sickness. However, Reno was standing next to her.

"You know," he was saying, "I've heard a good relief for motion sickness is a good massage. You know, getting your shoulders rubbed? Feels good, and gets it out of your system. If you want, I know how to do those." Instead of responding with a dry comment, Yuffie turned her head, and tried to force herself to throw up all over Reno. She couldn't, but it wasn't without effect. He saw this, and leapt back.

"Hey hey, watch the shoes!"

They encounter no one else until the reached the bridge. Cid was standing behind a young man, who was manning the wheel, and whom Cid was berating to no ends, about telemetry and wind speed. Barret was sulking by the window, sitting his large self in one of the seats, having scared a frightened crew member off. Rude was leaning against the wall, not taking his sunglasses off, even though it was nighttime, and they were inside the ship. Reeve was next to him, but wasn't talking. He had learned a long time ago that talking with Rude wasn't something you could just force.

Red XIII was sitting up with Cid, watching the pilot getting chewed out.

"Oh finally," Cid leaned down, watching Cloud and Tifa walk in, "Took yer sweet ass time. Tell me something Cloud, as you seem ta have ya head screwed on right; you really believe that all this is gonna be somethin' as big as we think? It goes without sayin' that we all feel a bit uneasy 'bout somethin', but we don't know what. Are we bein' paranoid, or just careful?"

"Is that really what you wanted to ask me," Cloud questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Don't be a smart-ass," Cid hollered down, "Course it is. That an' I need ta keep an eye on all you kids. Can't havin' you all doin' crazy shit on ma ship!"

"Then you might want to talk to Reno," Tifa advised with a smile, nodding back out the door, "He's out there with Yuffie still."

"Why that son of a bitch, I told him ta behave! That does it, I'm gonna go out there…" Before he could move though, the pilot began to panic.

"Please don't leave Captain; I'm still not sure how to maintain the altitude of this craft while in motion!" Cid paused, before grumbling. "Fine, but ya tell him that I got my eye on him." Cloud nodded.

"I'll do that. And to answer your question; I don't know. I'd like to think that it isn't anything too major, but Rufus isn't a fool. Calling us in for some small threat wouldn't make any sense, even for him. So, to answer, I think we're just being careful. After everything we've gone through and seen, that's probably the right choice."

"Whatever ya say. Alright, now get outta here, I got ta teach this moron how ta fly!" He shooed them off, and continued to slate the stressed pilot.

Tifa stepped around, and crouched by Red XIII, joining him in watching the show. Cloud, knowing that he had once again blown his chance, meandered off, eventually making his way to the front of the ship. He stood by the large window silently, staring out into the darkness, trying to push away the bad feelings that were gradually creeping up on him.

---

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_Later…_

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The flight was rather quick, the distance between Edge and Junon, when moving in a straight line, and at impressively fast speeds, is rather quick, only about an hour or so. At their approach, Cid called for everyone to get their asses to the bridge. Junon wasn't hard to spot. Even though Shinra Inc. was no more, Rufus still had quite a number of people on staff, what with him still being the wealthiest person in the world. This included mechanics, technicians, maintenance staff, and what-have-you.

Junon was jumping and alive, although many things had changed. A good number of the weapon placements that had been literally built into the city itself had been dismantled and decommissioned. Of course, it wasn't without its defenses, though sadly lacking the once imposing Sister Ray, the Shinra's greatest weapon. With perhaps the exception of Sephiroth. The damage that had been inflicted by the attack of Weapon had long since been repaired, and now the city had become a major docking station for large ships, and submersible crafts. Even though it was indeed late at night, the city was still brightly lit with lights.

"Things are running around here almost twenty-four seven," Reno commented, "The boss likes to keep everyone moving forward." He then glanced back at Cid, and motioned to the landing pad. "You already have clearance to land, so just set it down right there." After some careful coordination, and several outbursts from Cid, threatening to whap the pilot a couple of times, the Shera touched down. They had arrived.

"Follow us," Rude instructed, and exited the bridge. Reno was right behind him, casting grins back over his shoulder. Cid ordered the crew to stay sharp, and await their return. Everyone quickly disembarked, looking around. They were standing on the same platform that the Highwind had been parked on years back.

That being the case, most of them already knew their way around the city, having been there several times before. As they descended off the landing strip, there was a small vehicle, a shuttle, ready to drive them across the city. It was a tight fit; the transportation unit was really only designed for six or so. "They've really changed things around here," Tifa commented, watching the scenery going by.

"Yup, we've all been busy down here, fixing the place up, and modifying it. What about you guys? You all feeling a little emotional being back here? Bringing up some old memories?" This was harmless banter, but naturally, Barret had to squash it.

"I'll say, as the last time we were here, your jackass boss tried ta execute me an' Tifa! That Rufus sure is a warmhearted fella!" No one responded to that, which was probably wise, else Barret might try to pick a fight, which would have ended with him shooting someone, as he had a tendency to do. After the ride, they reached a lift, that took the whole group up into the executive offices, the pinnacle of which no doubt belonged to Rufus.

"Even after his brush with death," Vincent noted, "He still likes to be on high and look down on everything. He hasn't learned anything."

"Yeah he likes it up there, but he's learned a few things. Like having several emergency exits installed. But I think he also likes the view." The final leg of the journey was made on foot, climbing several sets of stairs, leading past a number of familiar rooms.

"Alright," Reno announced, waving at the large wooden doors in front of them. "Here we are. I hope you guys remembered to wash up before you came here."

"Will you shut tha hell up," Barret growled, "An' just let us get in there!"

"Sheesh, no sense of humor on this guy…"

"Reno," Rude called, nodding at the door, one side of which he had already taken.

"Yeah, yeah." He joined his partner, and the two of them pushed the doors open. Inside, the room was well lit. There were several rows of work tables, set up with computers and software equipment. To the left side of the room, were large mainframes, processing systems for the computers. In addition, there was a large section for monitors, many rows of which, most likely being a closed circuit surveillance system.

At the far end, there was the big corporate desk, a highly expensive and decorated piece of furniture. On the right, there was a single door. The only person in the room was standing by the window which was behind the desk, looking out at the dark sea beyond. His hands were clasped behind his back, in a thoughtful passive manner. Reno and Rude stepped in, Cloud and Company entering too, steeling themselves for whatever was about to go down. Either good or bad, though with their normal luck, it would be bad in someway, shape, or form.

"You all made it," came the unmistakable suave and calculating voice, "I was almost thinking that some of you wouldn't be very happy about this, which I'm sure you aren't anyways, and wouldn't show up. But everyone's here. How about that?" As they got close, the man turned around. Rufus Shinra, still wearing that same trendy white suit, with his shock of dull orange hair, nicely combed down. His eyes were still as vital and clever as always, as he scanned their faces, a pleasant smile present on his face.

"What," Barret asked, surprisingly enough having a trace amount of humor, as well as, of course, anger in his voice, "You'd think we'd miss a chance ta see our old Shinra buddy again?"

"I do at that, as most of you have a certain disliking of me and my company, to which we do deserve. But, as you can see, I've been working, trying to undo some of the damages I have done to the world. In time, hopefully we can all put the old misgivings to rest." This was greeted by several skeptical looks, but no one, not even Barret decided to argue, or put in a smart ass comment.

"Of course, in light of certain circumstances, we may never get the chance to do that."

"What do you mean," Cloud pressed, sensing that the deeply speculated and debated matter was close to the point of revealing itself.

"Exactly that, I'm afraid. I'm rather glad that you are all here. We can get to the formal greetings later, as I won't keep you guessing as to why I called all of you here. You've no doubt realized that this is important. As you all seem to be the designated heroes and protectors of the world, I figured you should at least be present when I get into things. Understand though, I don't expect any of you to be able to do anything."

"Will you stop beatin' round the bush," Cid leaning out, and slapping his palms on the edge of the desk, "And just tell us what's goin' on?" Rufus looked at them carefully, before nodding. He punched a button of the intercom on his desk.

"Elena," he called, "Has Tseng returned with what I asked for yet? Everyone here is getting anxious." There was some silence, before the young woman's voice came through.

"Yes sir, he landed a few minutes ago. We're already on our way up."

"Good." He glanced back at everyone. "Before I go any further, as I can sense your anxiety, and no doubt you are all thinking the same thing, let me assure you that this has nothing to do with the events of six months ago. As far as we know, _that_ incident is over. This is something else, though a bit more unpredictable." He sighed, and sat down in his chair, waving at the others around, motioning them to sit.

"I won't wait any longer, and I'll just tell you all straight up, and deliver the news. A little while ago, a team of astronomers found something amiss in their calculations. I don't know the details yet, but suffice to say, they had a hunch about something, and called us. Using our most powerful telescope, we've determined that there is an object out in space, a ways off, but heading towards us. Something…what everyone so far suspects to be a meteor…a _real_ meteor this time…is going to crash into the planet."


	4. One Big Damn Rock

**Chapter 4:** One Big Damn Rock

Silence was all that followed this revelation from the President. Indeed, a shock such as that would stun most anyone to silence, even those that had been through the trails this group had over the years. Everyone in the room, even the Turks, looked surprised. President Rufus had the same solemn expression, and he was waiting a few moments before he would continue. It was the least he could do, as this would take time to accept and swallow.

After a suitable amount of time, he went on.

"I had dispatched Tseng to retrieve the latest radar readings, and current position coordinates from the mountains in the northern continent. Unfortunately, we don't have the best of monitoring and tracking technology up there, much of our efforts are being diverted to reconstruction matters here and elsewhere, so we are also pretty much in the dark. He'll be here shortly, and then we'll have a general idea of exactly what it is that is out there."

"I…don't really know…what to say," Tifa managed, her voice quite shaken up, "To think that we all could have been oblivious to the fact, if you hadn't told us. But what do we do? Is there some sort of emergency plan for a situation like this?"

"As of right now…no, there isn't any such plan. And the only thing that I can think of is to send a rocket up with explosives to destroy it. However, I needn't remind you all of our last attempt of something like this. On Meteor, it failed outright, hardly scratching the surface. Not only that, we don't exactly have another rocket on hand to launch up, even if we wanted to."

"Meteor was different though," Cloud commented, not speaking directly to Rufus, "It was summoned by the Black Materia, so it wouldn't be easily destroyed. But if this is just a regular meteorite, then maybe it can be blown up before it strikes the planet." Rufus thought on this.

"That may be, but there is still the problem of getting a bomb up there. We're not exactly specialized in situations like this. As I said before, I thought it would be a wise idea to inform you all, but honestly, I can't really think of a way that you could help…" He seemed about to go on, but a nearby door opened, and in stepped both Elena and Tseng of the Turks, Tseng holding a silver briefcase.

They strode into the office, saluting the President, and giving greetings to their fellow Turks. Tseng then turned, and gave the familiar group a courteous nod, while Elena instead directed a scowl of distaste at them.

"Sorry about the delay sir," Tseng reported, setting the case on Rufus's desk, "The technicians were still having difficulties when I arrived. I had to wait for them to copy all the readings down onto a hard disk before I could leave."

"That's fine; just show us what we have."

"Yes sir." Tseng popped the case opened, and removed a disk, stepping over to the large monitor display on the far wall. He slid the diskette into the slot, and after booting up the telescopic program, punched a few buttons, getting all the systems to light up. The multiple screens began to flare with static, the image slowly coming into focus.

It was shadowy, rather unstable, wavy lines obscuring the image, and lapses in the picture, but there was a massively dark object dominating the center screen. All present in the room stared, watching this. They all felt a damning sense of realism, that no matter how much they didn't wish it to be so, there _was_ something out there. It was big, and it was approaching.

"Estimated length," Tseng went on, fishing several documents from the briefcase, and scanning them, "Roughly four-thousand and five-hundred meters in diameter at the thickest point, moving at a rate of fifty-thousand miles per hour. Expected time of impact, is in about…thirteen days." He paused there, letting these facts sink in.

"What about point of impact?" Rufus questioned, "Were they able to predict that?" Tseng nodded, flipping the page.

"Yes, though the numbers are a bit hazy. If they are correct though, then that may be a small consolation of good news. They suspect that this object will not hit any landmass. Instead, it is predicted that it will fall into the southern ocean. Of course, there will be a massive tidal wave following, the size of which is estimated to have enough force to circle the globe twice over." There was silence, at least until there was an angry exhale of air. Barret looked to be quivering in silent rage. Knowing him, he would not stay silent for long.

"Oh sure," he erupted, casting a nasty glare at the leader of the Turks, "That's _good _news alright. Uh huh, it surely is! Instead of smashin' into the ground, it's gonna hit the water, and drown 'bout half the people in the world! That's the _good _goddamn news!"

"Unlike _you_," Tseng countered with noticeable disdain, "I at least try and see a positive element to such a bleak situation. Yes, the tidal wave it creates will be destructive, but at least it won't destroy the entire planet. And if that _is_ what it's going to do, then we can issue an evacuation notice to all costal cities, and keep the casualties down. You need to stop jumping to conclusions after every couple of words!"

"Funny hearin' _you_ talk 'bout casualties…damn, if you knew about all the people you sons of bitches have…" He would have kept going, but Cloud laid a hand on his arm. Barret caught his eyes, and Cloud only shook his head. A message that said, "_Now is not the time for this."_ Knowing that this was true, Barret, for the moment anyways, desisted.

"Whatever the case," Rufus interjected, not wishing for this dire meeting to break down into meaningless bickering and violent fist fighting, "I think you will all agree that this is something we must begin preparing for. I'm afraid that none of us here have come up with even a single plan of action. We were holding out hope that one of _you_ might have an idea. You've saved the planet from certain destruction before, though the circumstances were different, of course, but we figured there was no harm in asking. So…does anyone have any bright ideas?"

No one spoke. Everyone seemed to be wracking their brains, closing their eyes, rubbing their chins, straining their minds, thinking and thinking, trying to put together an ultimate strategy that could save their world from this looming, unforeseeable, and most definitely ironic threat. One by one, they each opened their eyes, their expressions clear enough. No one had any sort of clue as to what might be done. It was, after all, a conundrum. How does one blow up an enormous meteorite out in space, when they are grounded, with no ways available to even reach it.

Seeing their solemn faces, Rufus nodded slowly. "I thought as much. It's alright though. I just thought it might be worth a shot. But if that is the case, then I think it would be wise for all of you to see to it that your friends and families are in a safe place. We'll issue the worldwide alert in a few hours." No one answered, but it was clear to those that had things to worry about, were doing so right then, the mood growing all the more grave. At least until someone spoke with a rough and clearly upset voice.

"So…what?" Cid burst out, looking around at everyone, arms crossed, giving them a disgusted scowl, "Yall are just gonna bend over and kiss yer asses goodbye already? Just gonna take this shit from a goddamn falling rock from space? Now _that_ is bullshit! Yer talkin' like that damn rock has already licked ya! Well, I ain't just gonna stand around, and let some oversized pebble crush _my_ life. No sir! I may not have a plan right now, but I ain't gonna quit, and I'm gonna find a way to knock it out of _my_ sky one way or the other. If any of you crybabies stop ya whinin' an' suckin' yer thumbs long enough, then maybe yall could get off yer asses and help!"

"A correct course of action," Vincent agreed, "If we accept the fact that we will die by this…then we will. However, if we fight, and push forward as we have always done, we will not fail."

"Shit," Barret shouted, looking pissed, "That's damn right! I can't believe I was _that_ close to givin' up! What's wrong with me? After goin' through all that stuff with Sephiroth an' savin' the planet, I'll be damned if I let all that work go ta waste by some big ass rock! I'm in!"

"He's right," Tifa exclaimed as well, rising from her chair, "We've protected the planet this far, so we can't quit now. Not when something just as bad shows up. If we put everything we have together, then I _know_ we can find someway to save everyone."

"Speaking of putting everything together," Red XIII interjected, "I think I know of a way to help us greatly. Seeing as your calculations are not completely precise, might I suggest we use the observatory at Cosmos Canyon. I remember my grandfather telling me that he received it from Dr. Gast years ago, and it was the most sophisticated telescopic equipment ever created. Perhaps we can evaluate the incoming danger more carefully and accurately."

"Truth be told," Rufus admitted, "We were thinking about asking you initially. But, seeing as we weren't on the best of terms, we figured that we could make due with our own equipment. But if we are working together, then I will dispatch our own astronomers there at once. That certainly would make things clearer for us, and I thank you for the assistance. Well…" he glanced around the posse in the room with a sly grin.

"I never would have imagined you all would have sprung into gear like this. No doubt this was the same way you all were two years ago, and again, six months ago. Uplifting to say the least. Perhaps with that sort of motivation we will be able to get out of this alive after all. And seeing as this is a world crisis, I will put any of our resources necessary at your disposal. Just ask me or Tseng, and we will get you whatever you need."

"Still though," Cloud spoke, getting everyone's attention, "we still don't have a plan. I think we'll need one as soon as possible. If everyone runs off to do their own thing, than chances are we won't get anything done in time."

"Way to inspire everyone Cloud," Yuffie mockingly sighed, "That's _really _going to get our fire going. Look at me, I'm Cloud! I'm all serious and trying to inspire everyone, but end up making us sad instead!"

"What I _mean_ is," Cloud went on, giving Yuffie a exasperated stare, "We need to know what everyone is doing, and keep things organized, else we'll be running around in circles. Cid, you run the avionics factory, and you're fully staffed right? Engineers and pilots?"

"Damn straight, the craziest and smartest bunch of yahoo's in the whole world. If yall need somethin' build to blow that thing up, then just give us the blueprints, and stand back. We'll handle the rest."

"That's good to know. Red, you should probably take the astronomers to the observatory, and make sure they can operate the machines. You know how they all work right?"

"I lived with my grandfather for more than forty years. I know there design completely."

"Alright. Rufus, you have choppers right? Chances are we'll all be moving back and forth pretty often, and we can't completely rely on Cid's airship to get us around. Can you give us a ride?"

"Certainly. We have several high speed helicopters that have just been completed. No time like the present to test them out I suppose. Reno, Rude, show them the way."

"This I got ta see," Cid exclaimed, following them out. Red XIII nodded a farewell to everyone, and went after Cid. "I'm going too," Yuffie exclaimed, "I want to see if this falling rock is real with my own eyes." Before anyone could protest, she dashed out.

"Reeve," the President called, summoning him to his side, "We have much to talk about. We both have a significant amount of manpower at our disposal, that might need to be called upon. Also, I'd like to run you through the emergency procedures for possible deployments in case an evacuation becomes necessary. No harm in being ready for the worst case scenario."

"Of course, and it will give us a chance to catch up and talk about…_old times_." Both men, strangely looking almost like brothers, standing shoulder to shoulder, exited the room, Tseng and Elena following them out. Tseng paused before leaving though, and glanced back.

"You all are the same. We've had our differences in the past, but now…I'm relieved we are working together. Perhaps we are not doomed just yet. This experience should prove to be…interesting." Barret sent a snort his way, as Tseng bowed, and followed after Rufus.

"As for me," Cloud told those that remained, getting back to his leadership speech, "I'm not really sure what I can do in the meanwhile, but I'm going to stay. Tifa and Barret, you might want to go back to Edge for the time being. I don't really know how the rest of you can help, so it might be best if you guys…" Tifa wasn't about to stand for that, and stepped right up into Cloud's face.

"You can forget _that_," she halted him, her eyes all but scolding him for even suggesting such an idea, "We're _all_ in this. I may not be able to help right now, but that doesn't mean there won't be something for me to do later. I'm not going to be helpless here, and I'm _not_ leaving!" Cloud knew when arguing wasn't going to do anything. He sighed, and gave a nod.

"Barret, it's probably not a good idea to leave Marlene alone. You might want to go back to Edge."

"You're right, but I'll be comin' back with her. No way you're leavin' me out of this. It's my job to protect the planet, and if that means fightin' a giant rock instead of some crazy guy, then that's what I'll do. So uh…you think Junon's gonna be our base of operations?"

"I think so; it has access to more resources than Edge. We may have to change later, depending on what happens, but for right now, I think we'll stay here."

"Alright Spiky, I'll won't be gone too long, so don't you do nuthin' damn crazy before I get back here!" Barret hustled out the main doors, dashing off to catch up with Cid and the others.

"What now?" Tifa asked, looking calm but with a hint of nervousness. Cloud was at a loss. "I don't know. And I'm sure Rufus doesn't either. We'll just have to see. Why don't you follow everyone? Probably a good idea to learn where the helicopters are kept. We all might need to learn how to fly them." Tifa nodded. She started for the door, but paused. "You're not coming?"

"I'll be down in a few minutes. I'm not done up here yet." This satisfied her, and as she left, she sent him back a smile.

Once she and everyone else was gone, off to get to work, Cloud noticed one person hadn't left yet, and was still staring at the hazy dark image of the incoming meteor. Staring deeply, his face appeared lost in thought, with no small amount of worry.

"What's on your mind Vincent? Are you finding this hard to believe or are you still concerned about this? Because, trust me; you're not the only one."

"I know. And yes…I'm worried, but not about the meteorite."

"What then?"

"I can't really say. When we met up, both you and I had felt something in the air. Something that gave us an abnormal feeling. And now we are told there is a meteor coming towards us, to strike the planet. Somehow, it doesn't feel right."

"What are you saying," Cloud pressed, "Do you think that Rufus is lying to us, and there might not be anything out there? That this is a trick or something?"

"No. I could sense from his manner that he is genuinely concerned. I have no doubt that this picture is real. But…I don't really believe that a mere meteor, serious though it may be, could be what it is we all sense. I don't know how, but I am getting the feeling that this just the start of something much worse. Something far more sinister."

"I was thinking the same thing. _This_ is bad sure but…well; I've only ever felt this sensation whenever I was fighting Sephiroth. It's kind of like a pressure on my mind, a feeling of being choked. If the past is any indication of things to come, then I really hope that we are wrong about this." Vincent turned around, his cape fluttering, his eyes set and firm.

"So am I." With that, he stalked out, in his somber manner, leaving Cloud all by his lonesome. His mind was turning over and over, running over the last words of Sephiroth in his mind.

"I will…never be a memory." This final statement had echoed throughout his head many a time in the last six months, but not once did he ever feel like it wasn't over.

_Then again_, he told himself, _like Vincent said; something like this is never truly over. There is only a break in between. But right now, I can't preoccupy myself with that. If there is something else out there, then we'll have to face it later. Right now, we have to take care of this else we won't be around long enough to worry about any other threat._

Cloud exited Rufus's private office, ready to go out, and take on this new menace. Before he could descend, joining the others, he noticed that Tifa was hanging just outside the door, leaning against the wall, cradling her arms.

"I…was listening," she confessed. "Do you really think that there is some other thing out there that…that we haven't seen yet? That it might have to do with…" Cloud cut her off.

"We don't know. Chances are, we might just be stressed out, and making ourselves worry about nothing. It doesn't matter anyways. Right now, we have other problems to deal with." As he said this, he noticed that her face was slightly pale, her eyes not having their usual cheerful glow. "Are you okay?" he asked, looking her over. She nodded.

"I'm fine. It's just…hearing all of this…has taken a lot out of me. Just when I thought the world was back to peace, this happens. Why can't we ever just get a break? Why do all of these horrible things keep happening to us?" Cloud, despite being as unemotional as he usually tended to be, managed to smile.

"We're just lucky I guess. This way, we can all be together again, and fight side by side." This, though strange, did make Tifa feel better.

"I guess that's true, though it would be nice to get together with everyone, and not have to risk getting killed. Going out for drinks, or something."

"If that's your idea, I have a feeling we'll still be putting ourselves in risk, what with Barret and his temper." The joke, although a bit dark, made Tifa laugh, something that felt good, and something that she really needed right then.

"You're right. Well, no matter what is out there, as long as we face it together, then I'm not worried. Come on, let's go find everyone." Cloud nodded, and they headed for the elevators, leading them back down.


	5. The Great Gathering

**Chapter 5:** The Great Gathering

"Check it out," Reno announced to everyone, "The newest, baddest thing in the sky! The Shinra 134 Attack Helicopter. What'da think? Pretty sweet huh?" They all stood upon a newly installed helipad on the far end of Junon, the whole group, minus Reeve, Cloud, as Tifa. And all of them were gazing up at six shiny black helicopters, sleek and agile, the Shinra logo brightly painted to both sides of them. A few technicians were meandering about, making last minute checks on them. Rude stood as still as stone, while Reno was all but frolicking around them, like a child dances around a Christmas tree loaded with presents.

"Huh? Huh? Come on, you aren't going to stand there and tell me that these things aren't great? Just look at them!" The group was indeed looking them over.

"Impressive," Cid whistled, finding any sort of flying machine fascinating, and he slipped closer so that he could start taking its inner workings apart with his eyes. "Funny though, that yall have the money ta build somethin' like these, but don't have enough ta fix up some other places yall haven't been too kind with. The people under this city comes to mind." Rude pulled on his tie, glancing away from behind his sunglasses.

"Hey, these _are_ important," Reno argued defensively, "We need to get around, and man, you should have seen our old ones! They were nearly falling apart on us!" Cid humphed at that.

"Whatever. So tell me, what sort of propulsion do these things get? Lower exhaust output or lower friction on the manifolds?" Neither Reno nor Rude really had an answer, not understanding what he had just said, in addition to not being privy to the inner workings of their new rides, so the two glanced between on another, shrugging. Before they could try and produce an excuse, Yuffie interjected.

"Can't you guys talk about all that boring technical stuff later? There are more important things to worry about. Such as…just how many of us know how to fly these things? I know I don't."

"Well, that's the easy part," Reno reassured her, "Me and Rude know how to fly. And I'll bet Cid over there could figure it out too. And if that's not enough, we can always call Elena to pilot. And Tseng if we have to. See, no problem."

"Still," Cloud added, having just arrived on the platform with Tifa, observing their transportation, "I think it might be a good idea for all of us to learn how to fly these, just in case of an emergency. We can't be relying on you guys to take us from place to place all the time."

"Alright, if you want. It's really a piece of cake, so I'm sure you'll all get it down real quick. Except maybe the big guy…"

"Hey now, hold up a minute," Barret growled, "I may not like all that technical stuff like Cid, but that don't mean I don't got a brain. I'll figure it out as quick as anyone, so don't you be worried 'bout that."

"You have a brain huh?" Reno echoed, looking amused, "Sure doesn't sound like it. And I'm not worried about you not getting it, I'm more concerned that you might get frustrated and start shooting the damn thing. We've seen how…_ahem_…upset you can get." Barret's nostrils flared, and he looked ready to either wring Reno's neck, start blasting his gun, or both simultaneously, but he never got the chance to do follow through.

"Will you the two of you stop that," Tifa interrupted, looking sternly between the both, hands parked on her hips. "This isn't the time to arguing over nonsense. Or did you forget that there is a meteor that is going to crash into us in thirteen days?" The two quarrelling men stopped, looking at her, hanging their heads. Tifa looked quite a bit like a mother scolding her children.

"Nah," Barret apologized, scratching his short hair, "I didn't forget. Just this scrawny chicken's gettin' on my nerves an' all. But yer right…we got ta get thinkin' on a plan ta save all our butts. There'll be plenty of time to get even an' stuff after this is over."

"Assuming of course," Rude spoke up, the first words he had uttered in quite some time, "We find a way to destroy the meteorite and survive this."

"Damn straight we'll figure somethin' out! We haven't come this far just ta get squashed by a rock! Shit, if it comes down to it, I'll try blastin' it!"

"Isn't that your solution to everything," Reno asked him, grinning.

"No way," Yuffie answered first with a grin, before Barret could show him if he was right or not, "Barret has two methods. One is shooting things; the other is beating people up!"

"Hey, are yall done over there?" Cid was squatting by an open compartment on one of the choppers, casting dirty scowls back at the posse. "If ya are, then maybe yall could get yer asses over here, so we can divvy up the work load! If ya think I'm gonna be doin' everythin' round here, then your crazier than a engine rat! Now move it!" Everyone almost seemed to snap to attention, and several present felt the rising need to salute, and shout out "Sir yes sir!"

"Alright then, that's more like it. Now Cloud, seein' as how you're probably gonna be the ringleader tha this crazy circus, why don't you lay things out the way they are gonna be? Like I've said before, I ain't the leader type. Too much of a pain in my ass."

"Sure. Okay, here's what we've got so far. Rude, I want you to take Red XIII, gather up the astronomers from their observatory, and take them to Cosmos Canyon, so they can make the proper assessments." The ever silent Rude made a single grunt, as well as nod, and sauntered over to one of the helicopters. Red XIII followed.

"We will return before long," he called back. "Hopefully, we will have uplifting news when we do." Yuffie went after them. "Hey, wait for me! I'm coming too, remember?"

"Cid, you take your ship back to your factory, and gather your staff. Chances are we're going to need a crack team to build us something, whatever it is we come up with to destroy the meteor. I only hope they're up for the job. If that is the way things pan out, they won't be left with much time."

"Hell, what you sayin'? Don't you know I got the best engineers in the world workin' with me? There ain't a job in the world that they can't do. I already told you earlier, you get the brainiacs to come up with tha plan, and we'll build it for 'em."

"I hope you're right. Seeing as how Junon's going to be our base, just bring them back here. Barret, you need to get back to Edge to get Marlene. Tifa, you should probably go with him, and gather up anyone we might need in this situation. Reno, I'll need you to fly them there and back. Okay?"

"Man, why do I have to fly with him," Reno almost whined, glancing behind at Rude prepping his chopper for takeoff. "Why can't I take the dog and the chick to Cosmos Canyon? And Rude will go to Edge with them. He and Mr. Sunshine here will get along much better than us."

"No chance," Yuffie yelled, sticking her head out of the helicopter cockpit, waving her fists, "I'm not flying in the same _anything_ with him again! He'll spend the whole time trying to hit on me! And while I'm airsick, that just makes it worse!" Cloud didn't really care one way or the other. He sighed. "It doesn't really matter to me. You all decide. Just do it quickly."

"_I've_ already decided! I'm _not _flying with him!"

"Aw come on, that ain't fair! I'm not that bad, once you get to know me."

"Nice try, but no chance!" Reno looked ready to continue pressing, but suddenly he felt something big and cold clomp over his shoulders. A largish metallic arm draping over him, staggering him.

"Ya heard the lady," Barret informed him with a devious grin, "Just you an' me now. And Tifa too! So mind ya manners! Come on little man, we gotta fly!" He then began to escort Reno to another chopper, more or less dragging him. Tifa started to follow, but paused.

"What about you Cloud? What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to stay here for now. I want to have another talk with Rufus. See if we can't start putting something together." This seemed to satisfy Tifa, who continued after Reno and Barret.

"Hurry back," Cloud called as an after thought, almost making a hint of red rise to his face. Tifa glanced behind again, giving him that sweet, knowing smile, as if she could read his thoughts, and see his inner most feelings. "I will."

In a whirlwind of warm air, the two separate helicopters took off, and went off in their own direction. A few minutes later, the Shera lifted off the landing pad higher up, and roared off. Cloud was standing on the platform.

Vincent was hanging back, not observing the spectacle. In fact, he didn't seem to be looking at anything. It looked as if he was seeing past the world around him, perhaps into some deep nether region to observe the hidden activity that progressed under the fabric of reality. Or something equally profound and mystifying. After a time, his gaze lifted ever so slightly.

"I'll be leaving too," he said slowly, not sounding sure of his own course of action, "There is something that I need to…do. I will return before long." Without a word, or waiting around for a questionnaire that probably would have followed this odd turn of events, he walked back inside, only to vanish into the dim shadows.

Cloud wouldn't have asked what was up, even if he was curious. He didn't really need to. Vincent was enigmatic sure, but he just like anyone had his own secrets, things he didn't want to reveal to anyone…even his friends. Most likely regarding the sin he kept close to his heart. Strange though it was, Cloud knew that he would be back. Vincent was indeed weird in many ways, but an honorable man, who was true to his word. He would be back.

"Guess I'll find Rufus," Cloud commented aloud. Before he stepped inside, he tilted his head back, and stared at the dark sky. It was still late, after midnight. The stars were out, though with all the lights around, it was difficult to see them.

_Its outs there_, he told himself, _somewhere up there, its coming for us. We can't let that happen._ He went inside.

---

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_Elsewhere…_

---

---

"So," Reeve was summarizing, scanning over a digital world map on the big screen "I'll deploy my people over on the western continent, taking care of any costal towns along there, and evacuate the populous to safe ground. Speaking of which, exactly how far inland do we need to take them to reach safe ground? What are we looking at in terms of water overflowing onto land? No doubt the tidal wave created will be monstrous, but is there anyway to know how far it will go inland? I'd hate to take everyone out of harms way, only to have them end up in a situation that's just as bad."

"Readouts indicated somewhere in the range of a mile of costal land will be submerged," Tseng informed him, going over more of the current data, "at least temporarily. But on the safe side, it would most likely be wise to push them back even further. Two to three should be enough I think."

"Maybe," Rufus mused, "But then again, we have no idea how big this thing _really_ is. We only have theories and inconclusive reports, as we haven't been able to get a clear picture. We've might only been seeing the small side of it. It could be a whole lot bigger than we predicted. That being the case, it could change everything, including where it might land. The southern continent is only a hundred miles from the current splashdown. Its size could very easily change its trajectory for either good or bad."

"I don't see how things could be any worse," Elena mutters from across the room.

'Hey now," Reeve called optimistically, "Cheer up! We're not out of this just yet. We haven't even gotten are hands dirty trying. It's only over when it's over."

"That's right," Rufus concerned, "With some luck, we'll avert this disaster and all continue on with our lives. But if we are going to try and come up with something, we'll need every person at our disposal. Tseng, Elena, I want the two of you to got out and collect as many scientists as you can, that are still in the Shinra employment. Give them the basic facts, and ship them over here. Surely someone will come up with a plan."

Tseng nodded, before waving at Elena to follow. They nearly slammed into Cloud as he was leaving. He stepped to the side, and let the Turks pass first. Tseng gave a smile, and Elena once more gave a somewhat sour expression.

"You'll have to forgive her manner," Rufus apologized on her behalf, "She still bears you and your friends a grudge, and what with working along side one another, past enemies has made her a bit temperamental."

"Forget about it. What have you two been up to?"

"Well," Reeve answered, giving the President a sideways grin, "In addition to catching up on old times, we've formulated the best possible evacuation procedure, should the worse case scenario occur. However, with the limited amount of data at our disposal at this time, we're more into the business of guesswork than actual solid facts. What about you? Where is everyone?"

"I've sent them out. Rude took Red and Yuffie to Cosmos Canyon, Cid went back to his factory to gather his engineers, Reno is flying Tifa and Barret back to Edge, and Vincent…well, Vincent has things he wants to sort out. Or that's what I gathered anyway, knowing him." Rufus pushed himself out of his chair, and strolled over to the window.

"Alright, that sounds good. I'm not too sure what we can do in the meantime, while we wait, but now might be the time to address another issue that I've been somewhat worried about." Reeve and Cloud watched Rufus, waiting for him to continue.

"Tell me, do you…my apologies, I know this may sound a bit strange, but have you gotten the feeling that something isn't…well, quite right? Sure, I know, there is a meteorite hurtling through space towards us, but…do you think that this…" he sighed, leaning on the glass. "This is a bit more difficult to put into words than I thought but…" Cloud cut him off. He knew what he was talking about.

"I know what you mean. And yes, I do feel it. So does Vincent. We don't know why, it's a sort of uneasiness that we sense. As if the meteor isn't the real trouble. I don't see how that could be possible, but I've learned to trust my instincts. And right now, they are saying that we're in for something worse than any meteorite. What though, I can't say."

"Hmm, well it makes me feel better knowing that I'm not the only one. I thought I was maybe losing my composer under this pressure. Well, we can't do anything really if we don't even know what it is that's making us nervous, but we should at least keep our heads up. Now, if you will excuse me for a moment, I need to send messages to my personal worldwide to prepare for a trip here. I certainly hope that gathering everyone in one place will present us with a solution to this predicament. I suppose we will find out soon enough." Rufus departed, leaving Reeve and Cloud, glancing at one another.

"Were you serious just now," Reeve asked, his eyebrow rising, "About that this might only be the beginning? Or were you just humoring him? As I could certainly understand if he might be feeling a bit stressed, what with this approaching disaster. It would be enough to give any man a sense of overwhelming danger."

"I was serious. Don't ask me how, because I don't know. But I'm still worried nonetheless..." He paused, reflecting his own thoughts. For some reason, his mind kept flickering back to those fated last words, the same ones that haunted him, even with his waking mind.

"Come on, we have work to do. No sense in worrying about something that may not even happen. That won't get us anywhere." So, with no further business to speak of, both Cloud and Reeve left the briefing room, to see what they could do to help elsewhere, and await the return of their friends.

---

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_Later…_

---

---

The sun was beginning to rise, peeking of the mountainous terrain to the east, over Fort Condor, and the rock faces that held the Mythril Mines. Things had indeed progressed at a rapid pace at Junon, having been dubbed the main base of operations for the "Save The World" endeavor. As the sun rose, several groups arrived.

Tifa and Barret returned from Edge, Barret having retrieved Marlene, while Tifa brought several of the orphan children, many of whom had been victim to Kadaj and his group six months prior. In addition to them, Tifa also brought a familiar metal case. Inside was a large assortment of Materia, what was left over after it had been plundered previously by the aforementioned group. No doubt it would prove a critical asset in this situation.

Just as the children were situated, and the Materia was being inventoried, there was the arrival of the Shera and a dozen or so other airships, Cid having flown all though the night with no sleep.

"Hell," he commented rather nonchalantly about such a feat, "It wasn't nothin' special. Now, quit talkin' my ear off and tell me where the coffee's at!" Arriving with him was his wife Shera, now his head technical advisor and foremost authority on personal safety, as well as over seventy mechanics and engineers. Most looked as if they had just crawled out from under a car after doing some oil changing, and were covered with black smudges.

Surprisingly enough though, they seemed pretty calm and cheery, despite the grim state of affairs. They were chatting and talking with another as if they didn't care that their planet and possibly their lives were in danger.

Tseng and Elena also returned, but heralded down by dockside, rather than the heliports. They had flown over to the western continents, and made some calls. Riding with them in the boat, very near filled to maximum capacity were many many people. Most of which having a rather intellectual quality about them, composed and passive. Others were engineers, technical students, all of them wearing the Shinra logo, being stalwart employees. However, all these people weren't too agitated about the possible impending doom. It did indeed seem that no one was taking this threat seriously.

A shipload of former Shinra scientists arrived as well. These men and women were well educated and agile minded. Though, not quite as brilliant as Dr. Gast, or as mentally unstable as Professor Hojo, these people still could do amazing things when they pooled their thoughts together. Tseng and Elena had to usher these individuals inside, while keeping things stable.

Also arriving by helicopter was yet another new group. But these were not thinkers. They were fighters. Or rather…soldiers, the men and women of the W.R.O., Reeve's world restoration unit. Reeve himself was on the scene, giving orders, and directing his personnel to deploy efficiently. Junon, by around eight o'clock had turned into a buzzing scientific fortress.

Finally, after many tense hours of waiting, one last helicopter was inbound, touching down as nicely as can be. Stepping out was Rude, whilst Yuffie and Red more or less vaulted from the cockpit. Unfortunately, their expressions were far from upbeat. This included the six people with them, the Shinra astronomers. Rufus was out there in person, as was Cloud and his whole group, minus Vincent, waiting to hear the news.

"Well," Rufus demanded at once, "Do you have something new?" There was a lapse of silence, until one mans sighed and stepped up, casting looks at his cohorts, no doubt somewhat irritated that he was the one picked to answer the President.

"Yes…sir, we do have an update. And it's…well, rather unpleasant. Perhaps we should discuss it inside?"


	6. A Ray of Hope

**Chapter 6:** A "_Ray"_ of Hope

Everyone filed up the stairs to discuss the latest findings. Well, most everyone anyways, Rufus, the Turks, Cloud and Company, and the astronomers. The technicians, scientists and engineers were instructed to wait down in the streets of Junon and just…stretch in the meantime. As always, it was quite the hike up to the top of the building, even with the taking of the elevator, but they finally reached the zenith, and spread around Rufus's office, awaiting this "rather unpleasant news".

Naturally, there was tension in the air, everyone was feeling it. How could they not? The predicament that they had found themselves in was pretty bad in itself, what with a huge meteor plummeting to earth, ready to cause massive damage through a tidal wave, or bring about the apocalypse when it struck land. That was rather shitty; and now they were told it was somehow worse than that? That was _just great_.

Rufus took him position in his cushy armchair behind his desk, flanked by the Turks. Cloud and the gang merely lolled about the room, waiting. With the exception of Vincent, who at this point was still absent.

"Alright," Rufus let loose a slow breath, trying to calm his own threadbare nerves of steel, "Give us the facts straight, and don't sidestep any details. I don't want to be in here for an hour with you beating around the bush. Just tell us what you found." The astronomers were hovering over by the presentation monitor fiddling with the controls, talking quietly amounts themselves. They almost didn't even seem to heed the President.

"Any day now, gentlemen." Still nothing, as they booted up the software, and continued murmuring.

"Will you dumbasses start talkin', and tell us what's what!" Barret's loud and angry voice split their concentration, where Rufus's mellow composed tone did not. They jumped, looked round, traded on last group whisper, before stepping forward, nervously fidgeting with their lab coats, and spectacles.

"Ahem…yes of…of course. You'll have to forgive us…sir…we're, well we're just a little stressed out, what with the circumstances and all. And the fact that we have to convey…well what we've discovered on to you all…well, that doesn't really help either."

"I think it's safe to say that we're _all_ feeling the pressure at this point," Rufus reassured them, "But the longer we sit here and brood, then the less time we have for perhaps creating a countermeasure, and saving our necks. So…gentlemen, if you please."

"Of course sir," the head astronomer looked behind, and gave a nod to his fellows, who in turn began fiddling with the controls. There was a horrid feedback whine for a second of two, causing all to cringe. An auspicious start to things. As this faded, the screen began flickering, filled with static, which gradually began to clear.

It quickly became painfully obvious that the astronomy equipment at Cosmos Canyon was far superior to the Shinra's, for the image this time around began to become sharper and clearer than the previous. Once more, there it was. The object that had caused all the distress thus far. The meteor, still revolving about in space, drawing ever closer towards them, its coming spelling destruction.

"Here it is," the head astronomer began, "Now, as you all know, we made the best calculations we could at our own observatory, but with the telescopes we possessed, all the numbers and figures we produced were more hypothetical than anything else. Upon closer examination of things, we see that we were not quite as accurate as we had hoped. We are in even more danger than before, and the hopes of survival have grown…dare I say it, bleaker."

He paused, letting this new soak in. It was soaked rapidly, and several of the occupants of the room, Barret and Cid mostly, were looking moments away from bursting in with commands to hurry up and continue. With a sigh, he did.

"The size originally estimated was four thousand five hundred meters in diameter. That was naturally a ballpark approximation. Now we know that it is actually quite a bit larger than that. More of somewhere in the vicinity of six thousand two hundred meters in diameter. Not only that, but our speed calculations were flawed as well. Rather than fifty thousand miles per second, as it was originally thought, it is actually more along the lines of sixty-three thousand miles per hour."

"So…" Rufus pressed, his tone conveying that he didn't know exactly what the deal was, "It is larger and faster than previously thought. What I want to know is, with these new numbers, what changes, if any, has this made? Is its trajectory altered because of the extreme size?"

"We don't think so, at least, not to a significant degree. In fact, it's moved a bit to the west, further away from the southern continent. However, with the increased speed, it does decrease the time in which it will impact. Instead of thirteen days, it is now only nine days. Including today."

At this revelation, everyone immediately thought the same thing at the same time. Nine days. That's all the time they had. A little more than a week. Such a short period of time…it was…unnerving.

"On top of that," the astronomer went on, "The increased size and mass makes the falling ratio far greater, and the tidal wave created on impact will be quite a bit more sizable than previously estimated. I'd say there is enough force in that thing to submerge everything on land to a degree of about three miles inland. That's if we're lucky of course. The kinetic energy released on impact could easily be ten times stronger than we predict. There just is no real way to know for sure. And one other thing. The larger size of the meteor makes it all the more difficult to destroy. At least effectively. I don't suppose there are any…well current plans on the drawing board for that…is there?"

"As of right now," Rufus told him, "No, there isn't. But that is precisely why I've called all the technical experts here. Should a possible and plausible solution to this be presented, hopefully we have enough manpower to do whatever it is that needs to be done, and survive. But nine days…that does not leave a whole lot of time. I dare say that you are right, and things have begun to look a little…well, grim. I hate to be negative, but unless we can hurry up and concoct some manner of plan within the next couple of days, then I'm afraid we have no choice but to accept this, and weather this meteor as best we can."

"I don't get it," Tifa had been stewing in her own thoughts, and now she stood up, "Why can't you just send another rocket to try and blow it up? Surely it would work if the bomb planted on it was strong enough."

"That would be ideal yes, but the trick is finding a rocket. Shinra 26 was the last working prototype, and it was used against Meteor. With minimal effects, if you recall. And unfortunately, the process to build a new working rocket is no simple task."

"Not only that," one of the astronomers piped in, "but even if you had a working rocket, and it was to detonate against the asteroid, that doesn't mean it would destroy it. Or even damage it enough to cause it to burn up in our atmosphere." Everyone turned his way, as he began to fidget, nodding in agreement with himself.

"Yes indeed. Here, let me explain." He trotted over to the screen, and began pointing up at the impending doom hurtling their way. "We may now know the exact _size _and _speed_ of it, but we have no way of knowing the _density_ of it. I'm no geologist by any means, but even I know that its mass is one thing, but its solidity…well, that's quite another. It could be completely solid, an enormous concrete piece of rock through and through, which could easily give it a weight of one hundred million tons. Even with a bomb impacting on the front, it would undoubtedly have little luck piercing it. It would simply blow off a portion of the rock face, but other than that…nothing."

"But if there were multiple charges planted on it," another astronomer began thinking, "along fault lines, detonated simultaneously, it could break it down to the core, and separate it, no matter how hard it was."

"What exactly are ya proposin' there Einstein?" Cid interrupting his musing, "I'm hopin' that ya ain't got it in that peabrain head your's to try and land some crazy suckers on that damn thing ta blow it to smithereens! Cause, if ya do, then you can count me out! I may be an astronaut, but I ain't suicidal, that's as sure as shit."

"And by the time we actually got there," Tseng added, "It would still be too close to the planet to matter that much."

"What about using explosives to just knock it off its collision course?" Red suggested, "Using the blast to send it in another direction?"

"We thought of that," the head stargazer assured him, "Unfortunately, it would do little good. Its speed is drastically strong, and it is stuck in a gravitational well, being pulled towards the sun. Plus, there's no knowing of exactly how powerful the blast would need to be to redirect something of that size. The amount of force required for that would have to be phenomenal indeed."

"Ah shit," Barret cursed, getting pissed, "Why can't we just up, and blast the stupid thing? I say if we put enough firepower behind it, I bet we could blow it in to tiny little pieces!"

"See," Reno exclaimed, pointing in Barret's general direction, shaking his head. "There he goes again with that! I _told_ you, that's his solution to everything. If he were in charge, even toddlers would have guns!"

"Hey! Come over here and say that to my face, skinny!"

"Actually," Cloud said aloud, his eyes unfocused, staring off into space it seemed, "Shooting it down might not be such a bad idea…" Elena snorted at that, rolling her eyes, while Rufus shook his head.

"I just don't think it could be done."

"Well," Yuffie grumbled, "Why not? Why _couldn't_ we just shot the damn thing down?"

"For starters," Tseng answered for his boss, "We do not have access to anything that is _near_ big enough to damage something of such a huge size. Secondly, it would require an enormous amount of energy and power just to shoot anything into space. A rocket is hard enough, but a projectile? And thirdly, and though I've already said it, I'll do so again, just to make the point clear…we _don't_ have _anything_ that we could use, and building something like that from scratch, no matter how many engineers and technicians we have gathered in the city, we would never get it done in less than nine days."

"What about the Junon cannon?" Cloud interjected, having been mired in his own world of thoughts, as he had a tendency to do, a plan of his own forming, "That would _have_ to be large enough."

"The Sister Ray? You of all people should know that we haven't used that thing in years. It was damaged when Weapon attacked Midgar, it was nearly overloaded when that screwball Hojo attempted to overload the reactors, and when Meteor was hovering just over our heads, the force caused by that inflicted more damage. Not to mention that it has been sitting out there for well over two years. It certainly couldn't be put to any use!"

"But, you said if we had to build it from scratch we would never make the deadline. What if we didn't build it from scratch? What if we moved it again to a better firing position, and refurnished it. If we tried to rebuild it, we'd run out of time. But if it's fixed up just enough to be able to fire even a single shot, then it might do the trick. Is that possible?" This final question was directed towards the astronomers, who in turn glanced at each other, sheepishly clearing their throats.

"Well uh…that's…not really our area of expertise. We are mere astronomers, not physicists. If you want a scientific provability that it might work, I couldn't accurately tell you. However, in my opinion…I suppose it could _possibly_. It would require numerous factors, some of which might happen while some might not. For example, the fact that you would need to move and rebuild something of such a colossal size is a daunting challenge in itself. Not to mention with the time limit of course. But like I said…that's not our area of expertise."

"It is an idea," Rufus admitted, "But even if we were to get it working…what would we use as a projectile? The Midgar reactors are history, and we could never gather enough Mako to shoot it. If we could, then it might be plausible. We were able to break down Sephiroth's barrier over the Northern Crater with it, so the strength of the shot would not be in question. But then, I suppose taking even more energy from the planet would not be a wise idea. Hmm…There must be something else we could use that has just as much power. If we could think of something then I dare say that the idea would have a hope of working…"

"A powerful weapon huh?" Reeve chuckled, "Hah, where's Scarlet when you actually need her. That _was_ always her area of expertise."

"Come to think of it, I seem to recall Scarlet having a whole load of her files backed up on the mainframe here. She had the bulk of them with here in Shinra Tower, but she kept back ups here." Rufus turned to the Turks. "Did any of you come across something like that?"

"Yes sir," Elena answered at once, "They were backed up here, but due to a system crash two months ago, all previous data had been wiped out. All existing files were destroyed." One could almost hear the groans of despair of everyone in the room at the news. Except for the nervous laughter.

"Uh yeah…" Reno glanced about, grinning slightly, "About that. See, I know those files too, and…hah ha, well I also happened on them a while ago. Before the computer crashed. I saw they were kinda restricted. You know, the top secret stuff. But I stole a peak anyways, I could hardly resist. Thought they might be important, so I downloaded them onto a disk drive. You know…just in case…"

"And the disk drive?" Tseng demanded. Reno's grin grew and he strolled with that suave swagger of his over to a shelf in the office. There was a large white book titled, "The History of Shinra." Tucked away just inside was a slim diskette.

"Thought I'd put it in a safe place."

"Always the sly type," Reeve told him to which Reno gave a bow. He handed over the disk to the president, who in turn plugged it into his own personal computer built into his desk. After booting it up, he sat hunched over the screen for many minutes, clicking and typing in short bursts, his eyes focused and flipping back and forth rapidly. Everyone waited…the suspense was great.

A possible course of action had at last been determined, but without using Mako, the possibility of the cannon doing enough damage was highly questionable. Something else equally powerful would be needed. Finally, Rufus sat back in his chair, putting his fingers together, a thoughtful look crossing his face. He said nothing for a time, perhaps thinking of a way to gently let down everyone's hopes, that the half crazed Shinra weapons manager didn't have anything useful on her files of destruction.

"Everyone," he called at last, his face getting a peculiar little smile as he turned to face the group, "We just might have a way."


	7. The New Power

**Chapter 7:** The New Power

The sun was high up, touching the vast blueness of the sky, a few soft clouds swirling along effortlessly in the wind. As if they didn't have a worry in their puffy wispy forms. Staring up at the passing clouds and feeling the sun and wind on the skin is enough to calm even the most restless of souls, to let the feel of nature and life wash away your worries. But despite their charms, lurking just behind them, far out in the vast recesses of emptiness just beyond them, the coming catastrophe slipped silently closer.

To know that it was approaching was unnerving, that even those beneath the shroud of safety that a sunny afternoon could bestow, it weighed heavily on the mind. So much so in fact that one might be convinced that it wasn't such a pretty day after all.

Moving among the same clouds, high above the ground, soared the Shera, speeding along amidst the blasting air currents of the upper atmosphere, carrying a substantial payload of passengers. Cid himself stood behind the wheel, as this current trip wasn't another leisurely outing, but rather, a serious exploration mission, thus he didn't have the opportunity to be teaching the secrets of avionics to his students. The rest of the group was scatted around the cockpit, as was their normal fashion, anxious to arrive.

Rufus and the Turks were there too, Rufus himself standing motionlessly at the large front window, staring down at the passing earth. Reno was off doing who knows what, whilst Rude and Elena hung behind Tseng, who was using one of the Shera's onboard computer systems to continue his reading of the documents and official investigation reports on the hard drive. The hard drive that could perhaps hold the key to their survival. The contents of which were the personal data files for Scarlet, the now deceased Shinra Weapon's Head.

They were currently underway, their destination having been detailed in a map. It was a location just past Mt. Nimbel, which was part of a range of mountains just north of Nibelheim. Past Mt. Nimbel, but not leaving the mountain range either, right around the corner of which was Rocket Town.

Somehow, this news didn't surprise Cloud all that much. No matter how much he tried to avoid it, fate seemed to call him back to his home time and time again. Though he didn't mind _that_ much, he was just relieved that this quest would take them past the reactor atop Mt. Nimbel, the Shinra Mako refinery which had been abandoned for a good while. No matter the reason, he would not _ever_ step into the place again. Too many painful memories…And he already had no shortage of those.

What they were seeking out was something that had been in that data files, the same files that Tseng was reviewing. Most everyone else had gathered behind him, or to within earshot at least. There wasn't much data to go on, but with absolutely no leads on anything else, there was not much else they could do. He continued to scan the text, reading certain passages aloud.

"It's called GO-37. I suppose that it was never given a proper chemical name because they were unable to determine it's composition, or even its place on the elemental table. It had been discovered in a number of shallow caves along the mountain face, patches of it lining the inner walls. There had been some study on it, but nothing too extensive. The data here is incomplete, as if the files are brief and rather undetailed. Maybe their attention was diverted elsewhere, and this was forgotten about."

"Meaning," Reno broke in, having appeared from nowhere, "If that stuff has been sitting there for so long, then it's possible that it could all be gone right? Someone could have come along and said, "Hey, I bet I can make some money on this stuff," and came and mined it all up. Something like that isn't just going to sit there forever and not be discovered again."

"Why the hell can't ya say anything positive for a change!" Cid yelled from above, eavesdropping as he flew, "Be more optimistic, else I'll tie your sorry ass to the rain capacitor outside, and use ya for my new windsock!"

"That is certainly a point…" Tseng mused on Reno's question, "But I don't believe that has happened. Shinra may not be in control of all industries anymore, but we still have considerable clout and numerous ventures on the sales market. If some new substance were introduced for mass trading, we'd have known about it. Besides, no one lives too close to those mountains anyway, what with monster activity in the surrounding area. At least, no one with any interest in mining."

"But that still leaves the unanswered question," Red XIII added, "As to why the Shinra didn't ever return to finish what they started? Why abandon the study and not return to it?" Reeve leaned past Tseng, to get a better look.

"Probably, knowing Scarlet, she found another substance that could be refined into weapons with far less effort, and therefore would skip the long processes of careful study and scientific testing to see if it could be profitable. She was rather impatient like that…Always in a hurry to make the next big weapon."

"Quite the charming little vixen huh," Reno mused with a grin, leaning on a nearby railing.

"Not the words I would have used," Tifa muttered. She and the aforementioned Shinra manager had shared a nasty little confrontation in the past, which had gone down in history as a world-famous catfight. Tseng skipped ahead, scanning the lines for more relevant info.

"All it says here is that it is a brittle crystal-like ore that has an unusually strong levels of croydoxsomes in it, with hidden nodes of ionphomites inside, which would also account for its high concentration of sorphonic alkaline in the samples…Pretty vague facts really."

This was technical talk, going over everyone's head, including Tseng himself. Probably complex enough to baffle some scientists perhaps. In other words, Barret was _certainly_ not going to understand it. And that didn't sit very well with him, as he was well known as being someone who like the facts laid out in a nice, clear, and simple manner, not getting sidetracked by unnecessary details.

"Will ya quit with all the mumbo jumbo and say it in English!" he barked, his eyes narrowing, clearly getting angry. "What the hell are ya sayin' and what does it mean! Is any of that crap gonna help us or not?" Tseng looked up from the monitor, giving the fuming man a cool raised eyebrow.

"What does it mean? I haven't a clue, and I don't see why you'd think I would. I'm no geologist or a scientist. This makes about as much sense to you as it does for me. All I can gather is that this substance, whatever it is, must have a high concentration of substances that could possibly be used as a power source. Of course, this was never truly confirmed or not, meaning this whole investigation may all very well be a farce and waste of our time. But since this is all we have…"

"Don't even go there," Tifa told him, "We're not going to get out of this mess if you doubt yourself. We have to be confident or else we will mess up." Despite her words, even she was feeling a little apprehensive. There was so much in doubt, whether or not anything would work. Reeve continued to scan the scrolling text.

"Hmm, this is…interesting. According to the analysis, GO-37 is a…biogamic compound. That's pretty rare."

"An' what the hell is that!"

"Biogamic? Well, in a nutshell, it is any sort of inanimate material that has what many deem as almost physical characteristics and properties…But it could still be refined into a beneficial substance with useful properties. In a way, it's very similar to many types of fungus."

"You gotta be kiddin' me! You're tellin' me that we're gonna power that huge ass gun and save the world with a goddamn fungus?"

"Well, not in it's current form, no, but if it does have some manner of energy that could be used as a power substitute, then perhaps it could indeed power the cannon."

"Speaking of which," Cloud spoke after his period of long brooding silence. He moseyed over to where Rufus was standing, still gazing out at the world going by, standing next to him. For some reason or another he hadn't taken part in the conversation.

"You _did_ order all the technicians to begin reconstruction in Midgar right?" Rufus shrugged his shoulders, not looking up. His face was pensive and calm.

"I sent the majority of our workers there, and have alerted several divisions of resource management's across the world, sending a list of all possible parts we may need. But no, I haven't actually given the order to begin work as of yet."

"What?" Barret shouted, nearly vaulting over the railing to grab Rufus by the collar and shake him about, "Why tha hell not? This ain't no time to be sittin' around, waitin' for things tha pan out just tha way ya like it!"

"I _am_ aware of that," he answered smoothly, "But if this does not work, if we are left with no other alternative source of energy, then I don't want anyone to be wasting time on some foolhardy task when they should be seeking shelter." There was genuine concern in his voice, but before anyone could argue the point any further, Cid bawl, "Alright, shut yer holes! We're comin' in for a landin'!"

With several uncomfortable lurches, the airship lowered to the ground, searching the craggy ground for any sort of suitable landing zone. After shuddering and powering down, the craft came to a rest, and everyone let out a silent breath. Landing was always an uneasy thing.

"Alright," Rufus seemed to almost take charge, turning to those around him, "We can't afford to waste any time here. According to the data, there should be at least seven or eight caves in the mountainous area ahead. I think it wise for everyone to split into groups of three or four to scour around. I have several radio systems so that we may remain in contact with one another…"  
He gestured towards the door, as Rude was already carrying in a crate, with numerous walkie-talkies in them. Small black earpieces and microphones to keep one hands free. Rufus went on.

"I think it will be wise if Cid remains here in the airship, and takes flight. Some aerial reconnaissance may prove to be very beneficial, perhaps he can spot one of the caves from the air. I too will remain here and…"

"What!" Barret shouted the moment the words left Rufus's mouth, "You send us down to do all the dirty work while you watch from up there! Ain't that just so typical? Your goons might not got a problem with it, but that don't sit right with me!" Rufus shrugged.

"Maybe not, but as much as I'd love to participate in the battles you will undoubtedly find yourselves in, I think my time will be put to better use here, coordinating the endeavor. Besides, I don't need to tell you that I'm not the fighting type. I leave that to our Ex-SOLDIER here." Cloud grunted at that. "And I don't want anyone sidetracked in having to bodyguard me. This way, I am not a burden, and will provide you all with information from here."

No one argued with this further. Rufus may have been intelligent and shrewd, but there wasn't much he knew about fighting. Of course, there were times when even he could occasionally surprise, pulling out a big gun and blasting away like Barret, but in several prolonged battles, that could wear him down. Probably having him hanging around when things got hairy would only lead to troubles. No one wanted any part in that.

"Fine," Cloud agreed, "you stay aboard the ship, while Cid fly's around and tries to spot any openings. When we get down there, keep in contact, and alert everyone the moment you find something."

They each grabbed a radio, and split up. Cloud took the lead of his team with Tseng, Reno and Red XIII. Barret went with Rude and Reeve. Tifa, Elena, and Yuffie ended up together, and with each group ready, they went out. The land before them was rough and rocky, Tifa and Cloud being the most familiar with the geography. Though as kids they had never dared to venture this far north of the village before. Still, there was a lot to do. They exited the ship, and began the search…


End file.
